Archive of Our Own ^beta

The voices of the crowd continued to fill the entire establishment even after Teto had long since walked off the stage, whether it was due to the size of the crowd taking a while to shuffle out, or people wanting to embrace the moment for a little longer. Both reasons would support the sentiment.

Kasane Teto was no longer insignificant.

Why else would any room she spent longer than 30 minutes in be filled to the brim with gifts from fans?

Upon opening the door to her dressing room, she was immediately bombarded with flower bouquets, hand-made items, and multiple merch items of her own. Though, those last items probably weren’t from her fans as much as they likely were from her own team. Regardless, the room was far from letting her forget how valued she was.

“Finally, another concert complete!” Teto let out a relieved sigh as she stretched.

These performances weren’t getting much easier for her, doing them day after day was definitely wearing her down. But she was only on the fourth day of the tour, she wasn’t allowed to take a long break yet. After all, that’d only slow down her rise to the top of the idol scene. Something that she was not allowed, not after how she declared her ambitions to herself.

She only had a little longer alone before needing to walk out in front of all those fans. After that she’d be in a new hotel room, enjoying a night’s rest before repeating all of this again. Though, that was no real reason to let her body get a momentary taste of the rest she’d have later.

Teto walked over to the chair in front of the vanity desk, falling onto it without nearly enough consideration to avoid it falling backwards. Luckily, it just raised off of its two front legs for a second. Teto slouched onto the chair and let out a long sigh. The biggest part of the day was done and she did great.

A good comfortable few minutes passed as Teto sat slumped in the chair. Resting while on a short break was somehow always more satisfying than a long one, though it did eventually have to be interrupted.

Once she finally opened her eyes to look at the mirror, she noticed a folded piece of paper taped directly on the middle of the glass. She immediately recognized that it wasn’t there before she went on stage, which meant it must’ve been put there during her performance. She looked around the room, but she couldn’t remember if anything looked different. There were a lot of merch and gifts around the room, she wouldn’t notice if one thing was added during the performance.

She turned back to look at the piece of paper. It wasn’t like its presence was threatening or anything, it was just a somewhat sloppily folded paper. So without any reason to deter her curiosity, Teto sat up in the chair and reached for the note. Opening up the crooked folds to be greeted with a hand-written letter. She hadn’t really thought about reading any letters, she couldn’t name the last time she received one. Her lips curled into a small smile as she began to read the heading.

“Dear Kasane-”

Knock Knock

Teto jumped at the sound, having just gotten a cozy feeling and immediately having it interrupted.

“One second!” She shouted and stood up. She folded the paper back up and-wait, no where could she even put it?

Whoever made this replica of her original outfit didn’t put any pockets in the skirt. And if she just held it in her hand when she walked out, the fans would see it and start predicting things. And if there was one thing Teto was hyper aware of from her time spent under her agency, it’s that even just the idea of something could drastically affect her image.

Can’t keep them waiting!

Teto folded the paper into a small square before shoving it in between her neck and collar. It shouldn’t be visible there, nor slip out. Though, the feeling of it pressing into her neck was a little distracting.

Then she dashed to the door with minimal complaint from her legs. It was unfortunate that she never really had enough time in these dressing rooms to appreciate everything inside of them. Who even knew where they put any of the gifts after she left? It wasn’t like they sent them back to her actual residence.

She opened the door to be met with a few strong and serious looking men. As much as being an idol was a dream come true, security often felt overwhelming. It wasn’t this bad last year, but ever since a few months ago, Teto couldn’t ignore the increase in concern for her safety. Which as nice as it was, going down to a bakery to buy bread shouldn’t have to become a hassle for herself and a group of bodyguards.

“Are you ready to leave?” One of them asked in a monotone voice.

“Yep, time to say goodbye to Hamamatsu!” Teto rallied, though the lack of any reaction from the team felt like a moodkiller.

Between them and her fans, there was never an interaction between non-responsive and over-responsive. Security would never dare to even flash a smile, and the fans never strayed far from extremely emotional. She couldn’t really blame them, but it’d be nice to have something in the middle. Like friends. Someone to remind her that she wasn’t just an idol.

ー

As she left the last spot of backstage cover, the fans began freaking out once again. Half of their voices were lost and exhausted, yet they only cared about their idol being in front of them, not any damage to their vocal cords.

Teto brought on a big smile, waving at the crowd that was parted by stanchion posts and event staff. Even through the mess that were the cries and praises of emotion fueled fans, she could still hear certain sentences from the clamoring crowd.

“Teto! I love you!”

“You were amazing out there!”

“Come back sooner next tour!”

Teto’s smile widened further as she continued to walk past the crowd, towards the car. Even once she got outside and felt the cold air on her exposed skin, fans continued their uproar. The sight was something a weaker person would be so overwhelmed by, but this was what Teto wanted. She rigorously practiced to become an idol for moments like this one, moments where she was on top.

Once she eventually reached the currently-held-open car door, she turned around to see this crowd one last time. At least for the year, she’d probably be sent back to this place later, tour or not. Hamamatsu was quite profitable, she heard from the CEO, and it wasn’t like Teto had any objections towards the location.

“Bye everyone!” Teto winked and waved, likely causing at least one attendee who thought she looked at them to faint.

Teto turned back to the car and slipped onto the seat, the door being closed by staff a few seconds after she settled.

She took in a deep breath and then exhaled. Sure, she shouldn’t be allowing her body to fully relax before entering her hotel room, but what was going to happen? A fan taking a photo of a tired idol? So what! Being relatable is definitely a strategy to appeal to fans, even if it wasn’t the exact approach that she was expected to use.

As the car began to slowly move forward, Teto closed her eyes, put her hands behind her head, and leaned back. Before she knew it, the car had accelerated to the speed limit, and the loud crowd was getting quieter by the second.

ー

The hotel room had a similar theme to the dressing room, gifts laid around in most areas; plush versions of her on the bed and warmly-colored flowers. Teto furrowed her brow and bewilderedly smiled.

So this wasn’t just a gimmick for the first few days?

Honestly, she did say before that it would be amazing if each room was full of herself, but that was her playing into her ego role. She didn’t actually mean for them to fill every room with gifts and merch.

“Huh?” Teto turned her head slightly towards the kitchen area, where a truly beautiful sight was to be beheld.

Bouquets of flowers were cool and all, but a bouquet of baguettes was much more alluring and useful. If this was a part of the whole narcissistic preparation the agency was doing for her, maybe it wasn’t that big of a problem.

Teto walked over to the kitchen table and sat down, looking mesmerized at the bread in front of her. Yeah, she was told quite a few times to enjoy a full meal and not just the french-blessed carbs, but she wasn’t doing any worse when filling up on bread and not a balanced meal.

Though, they did start sending actual meals and once a chef to Teto’s room after she shrugged off the criticism. Was it somewhat intrusive to her life? Yeah. But they just wanted her to be healthy and ready to perform. But Teto drew the line at the chef just randomly appearing once in her residence before a show. There should’ve been a warning.

Teto grabbed one of the bread bags and untied it, promptly enjoying her favorite food. Was she too much of a fan of them? Yes, but at least her favorite food was something normal.

ー

After consuming an entire baguette, Teto rested her arms and head on the table. She could feel her face somewhat stick to her arm. She sighed discontently and sat back up.

I still need to shower…

Not that she disliked cleaning up, but her body finally decided to let her feel the full force of her exhaustion. And as tempting as it would be to go pass out in her bed, she was still wearing non-rest worthy idol attire. While she could normally work with that, she still had her hair done up in her well-known twin drills, meaning she’d have to sleep perfectly face down or face up. And then there was the whole makeup inconvenience.

Teto pursed her lips in thought, but there really wasn’t much of a solution besides cleaning up. She would have to accept defeat and get herself to do just a little bit more for the day. Then that was it, not a break, but the real ending of the day.

She stretched before standing up from the chair and making her way towards the bathroom. Still taking in the quite ridiculous scenery around her.

Once she pushed open the bathroom door, she looked towards the sink to see how everything was laid out. Even though the same person would lay out the same items; makeup, face care, ect. It would always take her a minute to see where exactly everything was, because these hotels weren’t consistent in design.

After a quick once-over, she saw the two cleansers she used to remove her makeup. She turned the sink’s faucet and began the process of washing it all off. Drying her face with a rag before looking at herself in the mirror. Without the makeup, she looked more like her original ‘debut’ self. Though, it was during school and she wasn’t signed up with any agencies. She’d still consider that as her actual debut, and not the one after signing.

It was refreshing and calming, looking at herself like this. Maybe it was because it subtly reminded her of those early days. How ambitious she was about the entire industry. The way that she felt nothing could stand in her way.

But I spent those days looking forward to these ones.

Teto looked down at the rag, then back up at her reflection.

I shouldn’t be looking at those days and feeling more comfort than I do now… Right?

Teto folded and set the rag down on the counter. She felt uncomfortable thinking about how to feel about that.

No, this is just an overreaction. Doesn’t even make sense, I’m just tired right now.

Teto unconsciously went to pull at her collar since it felt like something was poking into her neck. Then she remembered that she stuck a note there just before leaving the venue.

She muttered a curse, hoping that she didn’t soak it when she washed her face. Quickly wiping her fingertips on the drier part of her clothes before taking out the folded piece of paper. Luckily, it looked pretty fine.

Teto let out a sigh of relief, putting the letter down on the counter before reaching towards her hair to let it down. After the shower, she would read the note. That would be a good way to end the night.

ー

Teto stepped out of the bathroom, wearing a bathrobe and holding the note in her hand. She walked towards the bed and set down the piece of paper onto the nightstand, deciding that she’d change into comfortable clothes before laying down and reading the note.

She walked over to her personal suitcase, where she kept mainly her own clothes, phone, and other personal items. She knelt down to unzip it when suddenly there was a buzzing sound from inside of it.

She paused for a second before realizing that it was probably her phone ringing. She quickly unzipped the luggage before fishing around her clothes for her phone. She pulled it out and immediately looked at the screen, seeing that it was the CEO of the agency. She immediately answered.

“Mr. Kurosu, hey!” Teto spoke with an enthusiastic-adjacent tone that mostly concealed her confusion. While Kurosu was very involved with Teto’s idol life, she couldn’t think about why he’d call today, let alone at 10 PM.

“Teto! Hey, how’s my favorite idol doing?” He spoke about as energetically as a 40 year old business man could.

“Uhm, doing good.” Teto hesitated, his voice further confusing her.

“That’s great to hear! I assume the tour is going well?”

“I’d say so. It’s really fun to tour, but I still have to get used to the motions of only really being in one place once before needing to adjust to a new one.”

“Ah, well I’m sure that you’re doing good to figure it out.” He dismissed.

Teto let the silence continue for a moment before asking, “Mr. Kurosu, why are you calling?”

“You know! Just to check on the top idol.”

Teto awkwardly laughed, she almost refused the reason, but that’d make this call less pleasant.

“Okay, well, I was just about to go to sleep.”

“Oh, alright then.” his voice took a step down from where it was, “Well, I don’t want to stop you from resting. You need to be at your best to do your best. Have a good night, Teto.”

“Goodnight, Kurosu.” Teto hung up and just looked down at her phone for a moment. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but something about that farewell part irked her in some way. But, she knew that the entire conversation was just weird.

Maybe he was drunk or something?

Teto reasoned as she put the phone down on her bed. She changed out of the robe into some comfortable pajamas.

While she could’ve spent more time thinking about what that call was, she decided that it was just a weird mistake on his part or something else of the sort. She would move on from it and onto what she was interested in. The note.

Teto got onto the bed and picked the note off of the night stand, unfolding it to see what it read.

Dear Kasane,

I wanted to thank you so much for all of your hard work. I’ve been saving up for a while now to try and go to one of your concerts. I am so excited to come and see you perform live! I’ve been practicing the dances from your videos with my friends after school, and we’ve had so much fun doing it. We needed some activity to do together, so thank you for being the reason we have one. And it gives me the perfect excuse to practice for if I can become an idol. It may be way too ambitious, but one day I want to try my best to be a huge idol like yourself. I just need to channel my inner you, and I’m sure I could at least get through one audition.

Thank you for being my inspiration, Kasane.

From,
Akemi

Teto continued to look down at the note for a little bit longer, a fond smile on her face. There was a certain feeling of guilt in the back of her mind, though it was being pushed back by the word choice of the letter.

If this was what fanmail looked like, she didn’t want to miss out on any like she had been. Maybe Kurosu or the team had been stockpiling on fan letters? But, why would they save them up and not hand them to her? There was no way that this would be the only letter she’d get. Tomorrow she’d ask about it.

Teto set the letter back on the nightstand before laying on the bed with her hands clasped together.

Practicing with friends after school? I remember when I did that.

Teto looked up at the ceiling as memories from her school days started to come back to her. She remembered hanging out with her friends once her last class was over. They didn’t really practice together, at least not before the end of her time in school.

She reached over to where she set her phone down on the bed earlier, peeling off the silicone case to retrieve a photo card from the back. She set the phone and case down, laying on her side while looking at the photo.

Her, Neru, and Miku were in the image. Neru was closest to the camera, smiling, and Teto and Miku stood behind her in some costumes that they wore for their live performance together. It was a sweet memory with a somewhat bitter taste at the very end. But one that Teto would cherish all the same.

Teto softly smiled as she continued to look at the picture, resting her head on the pillows as she slowly felt her body grow fuzzy. She wouldn’t be able to remember her last thought before falling asleep with the photo in hand.

～

A teenage trio walked down the streets of Shibuya, not paying much mind to anything else but their conversation. Miku held a plastic bag of some accessories that the three had just purchased during their after school walk. Neru checked her phone before pocketing it, paying attention to the conversation that Miku and Teto were having.

“I just don’t understand how you just like eating spring onions on their own. It’s insane!” Teto complained. Neru hopelessly sighed.

“It’s just my favorite food, it’s like you and baguettes-”

“No! Nothing like that! Baguettes are normal to just eat, spring onions aren’t!” Teto cut her off.

“Is this seriously the conversation you both chose to talk about?” Neru asked disappointedly.

Miku sheepishly laughed, “Well, Teto doesn’t take silence well. Y’know?”

Teto side-eyed her, “Don’t talk about me like I’m a pet when I’m right here.”

“Sorry!”

“Here, let’s talk about something somewhat sensible,” Neru started, looking directly at Miku, “How’s the idol stuff going?”

Teto immediately perked back up, now intently watching Miku and waiting for her to speak.

“Oh? It’s going pretty well. Kaito is talking with Crypton about contracts and stuff. Looks like they’re very interested in me.”

Neru nodded, “So, you’re going to drop out?”

“Eh?!” Miku impulsively reacted, freezing up slightly.

“Well yeah, if you become a successful idol you’ll need to leave school. Did you not talk about it? I would’ve thought your parents would’ve brought it up to you.”

“Oh, well I guess they don’t really care as long as I’m set up for success. They just don’t want me to be set up for failure.” Miku sighed, “Though, I guess I should talk with them to be sure.”

“Leave school?” Teto spoke up, both feeling worried and partially jealous.

Neru looked at Teto and nodded, Miku turned to face her, “I mean, if it has to happen then… I guess I won’t stop it. I’m sure it’ll all work out.”

Teto nodded and waited for Miku to look back at Neru before looking down at the sidewalk. She hadn’t even been talked to about the idea of dropping out of school for an idol career. She knew that Miku was at least a little bit more liked than her, but was the difference between them that large? Now that she thought about it, when she sat with Miku and her friends they never even brought her up in idol or song discussions.

Was her career nothing more than a dream to her and a joke or hobby to others? No, that wasn’t going to happen. If she had to bleed for it, she was going to do what she wanted. If she wasn’t currently seen as an idol, that meant she was still yet to reach her real start. Once she actually started trying, she wouldn’t go unnoticed in idol conversations.

Before Teto knew it, Neru was waving goodbye to them and walking up towards the apartment building her family lived in.

“Bye Neru~!” Miku said in a harmonic tone.

Neru took one last glance at Teto, who was finally becoming aware of her surroundings, before turning away.

Miku turned back towards Teto.

“Hey, y’know what Miku?” Teto spoke in an almost challenging tone.

“Hm?” Miku curiously responded, listening earnestly.

“You may become some big shot, but you’re not going to be able to leave me behind!” Teto smirked with a new sense of ambition and pride. Miku raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“I’m going to start taking anything I can do seriously, and you won’t be the only girl in our grade known as an idol!” Teto emitted an energy that Miku hadn’t seen since around elementary school.

Miku smiled brightly, admiring the fire in Teto’s eyes, “Really? Alright, then don’t lose sight of your goal! I’ll wait for you up ahead!” Miku encouraged.

“Hah! Wait for me? Please, if you do that then I’ll already be ahead!”

Miku laughed, which only fueled Teto’s ambition more.

“Then you’ll have to show me,” Miku reached into the bag to give Teto the white bow she bought earlier, “See you tomorrow, Teto.”

Teto took the bow, the smirk on her face now looking as if it had always belonged.

“See ya.”

ー

Teto woke up to the sound of someone knocking on her door. She yawned and slowly forced her eyes open, looking towards the sound before following it.

She opened the door to be met with a tired woman with a well-meaning look who held a covered plate in her hands. Teto smiled gently as she recognized the woman from being part of her team, though she never had the chance to know her name.

“Good Morning, Ms. Kasane.” She greeted, already holding the plate out for Teto to take.

Teto gently took the plate, a mixture between wanting to be polite and her early morning sluggishness, “Good morning, thank you.”

The woman nodded before turning around and walking down the hallway towards the elevator before Teto could try to talk with her. Teto leaned out of her room to watch her go, a little disheartened at the immediate leave. Though, she was tired, so maybe it was best to not hold her up.

Teto closed the door and set the plate on the kitchen table. She could smell steamed rice and eggs coming through the covering, but she wasn’t extremely hungry at the moment. The covering should keep it warm long enough for it to still be good when she would eat it later.

Teto walked back over to the bed, looking at the opened note on the nightstand. She remembered reading it, the feeling it brought her. Then she remembered the thought she had after reading it.

Right, I should talk to Kurosu about fanmail.

She looked over to the bed where her phone laid separate from its phonecase, and next to it the photo of her and her friends.

Instinctually, Teto reached for the photo first. She did miss her friends, not being able to hang out with them felt like an abrasive move by the agency, but she remembered the reason. If something were to happen, it could ruin all of the hard work that was done to make Teto the idol she was today. Still, maybe it’d be a good idea to ask Kurosu about that again as well.

She set the photo down next to the note, then put the case back onto the phone before turning it on. It wasn’t too early in the morning; 9:15, so hopefully she’d be able to talk with him. Maybe even see what happened last night. She went to her minimal contacts list and called him.

She gave it a few seconds as the phone rang, before it was picked up. Quicker than she imagined, and suggesting that he didn’t just wake up.

“Hello?” His voice came through, more monotone than last night.

“Good morning Mr. Kurosu.”

“Oh, Teto, good morning. Is something wrong?”

“No sir, I just wanted to talk about a few things with you.”

“Hm,” The voice on the other line stopped for a few seconds, “Sure, I don’t have anything immediately pressing to do.”

“Great!” Teto turned to look at the note, “I wanted to ask about fanmail.”

There was another pause before Kurosu spoke, “Yeah? What about it?”

“I just wanted to ask, why don’t I normally get any?”

“Normally?”

“Yeah, I know that idols usually get fanmail. I was just wondering why I’ve only now received a single letter.”

. . .

“Kurosu?”

“Sorry, I didn’t know you were that concerned with fanmail.” His annoyed tone suggested that he saw it as an unimportant factor.

“Well, not super concerned, just curious. I read a letter last night that I got, and just really needed to know if there was more. If I could even respond.”

He sighed, “Teto, you know that we have to be extremely careful with how you respond to things. We’d need a team to make sure you didn’t accidentally say anything bad.”

“Oh come on, I know how to play my role. You wouldn’t need to worry.” Teto responded, somewhat irked that she wasn’t apparently trust worthy enough.

“It’s a sacrifice that every successful idol makes, Teto. We can’t risk your reputation like that.”

“Fine. Sorry,” Teto backed down, “If it’s that much of a hassle for me to respond then I don’t have to. But, are there any letters or anything that I could read?”

“I’ll talk with some people about it.”

“Thank you.”

“Well Teto, if that was all you needed to ask-”

“I actually had one more question.” Teto quickly spoke, as this was important to her.

“Go ahead then.” Kurosu allowed.

“I know that in my contract, that connecting with other idols is a big issue. But I really think that-”

“Teto, it’s early in the morning. How about we let these topics ferment for a little longer?” Though it didn’t seem like a question.

“I know, but I feel like I’ve tried talking to you about this again and again. I still haven’t been told anything’s changed.”

“It’s a difficult process to change a contract and also figure out how to make crossing idols work.”

Teto had a rebuttal to that claim, but she felt like nothing she said right now would even matter.

“Yeah, okay…”

“Alright, well have a good day today, Teto. I hope the tour continues to go well.”

“Yeah.”

Teto hung up, feeling unfairly defeated over the call. It felt like there wasn’t much she could do. So maybe it was just best to start the day and keep on schedule for the tour’s sake.

She walked back towards the kitchen table, sitting down and removing the covering. She still didn’t feel the most hungry, but if she didn’t eat soon she might fall behind on her schedule. She still had to go on a “Idol-Walk” today, then travel to the next venue, and perform there.

Then she’d do it again tomorrow, then again, and then one last time. The tour would end, and she already reached the halfway point. Though, once it ended, what interesting things would happen? Her normal idol life felt empty. The first year at the agency was exciting, as it was a new experience and there were quite a few composers and song writers lined up to work with. After that, her career felt like it was dulling. Her fame was still rising, but new songs became far and few. This tour was supposed to be super exciting, and it was, but now she was spending it while dreading the return to her normal work cycle.

Hopefully something would change during this tour, it was the first after all, it could very well be the catalyst for change in her idol life. All she had to do was make sure she was full, looked pretty, and followed through with everything highlighted in the itinerary.

ー

At 11, Teto finally left the hotel. Wearing a casual outfit that a stylist hand selected for her to wear. She felt a little better than earlier in the morning, but the presence of the following security team made it difficult to feel normal. Though, that was just the life of an idol. At least, that’s what she was told.

As she began to stroll across the town, the eyes of on-lookers became a never-ending sensation. Not that it was horrible to her, she was pretty fine with receiving attention. Though, she would need to be ready for multiple interactions that’d come with walking “freely” around.

“Excuse me?” The voice of a teenage girl broke Teto out of her sudden zone out.

“Huh?” Teto looked up to see that she was about to pass by a group of teens on the sidewalk. She immediately snapped herself completely out of her zone out, a soft smile appearing on her face, “Hi!”

The girl looked somewhat composed, though the two behind her seemed much more nervous, “Hi, me and my friends were wondering if we could take a photo.”

Teto glanced at the team trailing her from the side of her eye before looking back at the girls. There wasn’t any reason Teto could think of that it’d be bad to interact directly with fans, so there was nothing to realistically stop her.

“Yeah! Sure.” Teto energetically responded, motioning for them to stand next to her.

“Thank you so much.” The main girl responded, handing Teto her phone.

Teto took the phone and pointed the camera at her and the other girls. She held up a peace sign, which the others mimicked.

“Say cheese!” Said Teto before taking the photo.

She lowered the phone and handed it back to its owner.

One of the more nervous girls moved from behind the other to face Teto, “Uhm,” Teto immediately looked at her, “I just wanted to say that your concert last night was really good.”

“Awh! Thank you, I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Teto responded, trying to make eye contact, but the other kept looking away.

“Well, I should get going.” Teto said, the main girl nodded and moved out of the way.

Teto continued her walk down the street, she knew that the next two hours that she’d be out and about would be like this. Then she’d be driven to the next venue to eat, get ready, and then perform. It didn’t sound that exciting when she put it that way, but what mattered was that she continued to fulfill her ambitions. When that was the result, then the process shouldn’t matter too much.

ー

Besides the fan interactions during the walk, there wasn’t anything interesting that happened. The driver wasn’t much of a talker, and once she finally got to the venue she was back to isolated again. It felt like every single staff member was financially incentivised to not have full conversations with her, including the venue’s staff. The theory was ridiculous, but not even the makeup artist was much for conversation.

Teto sat still as they did their job. The few times she tried to start any conversation, she was met with the worst possible response.

“How long have you been doing this?”

“Three years.”

“What do you think about the agency?”

“They’re fine.”

Teto even pulled out the big guns.

“What made you start doing makeup?”

“People around me were bad at it, so I tried my hand and ended up getting noticed.”

“By who?”

“Some random agency. Look up for me.”

Teto still didn’t even understand how someone can make their origin for a career in entertainment be so simple and boring. There was a full story there to uncover, but looked like out of all the makeup artists she could’ve gotten, she got the one who didn’t care for talking or anything besides just doing her job.

“Done.”

Teto looked in the mirror, and she definitely looked good. So at least the artist was decent at their job. However, Teto couldn’t help but still be confused by the sudden change in her attire. Last concert she had a remade iteration of her original outfit. Now she wore a red top with a pink star in the middle, white cloth coming over her right shoulder, and a medium-length pink skirt. It was a far cry from what she was used to, and she wanted to know why mid-tour they made her change her outfit. But she didn’t have enough time to go around asking.

“Teto, you’re up in one.” Said a venue staff member.

“Alright.” Teto nodded, standing up and moving towards the backstage.

There were more staff in the area, all either looking at tablets or adjusting random equipment. However, one of them looked up at Teto.

“Ready to go?”

Teto took a deep breath to clear her mind, “Yep.”

She moved from the side of the backstage into view of the audience. The crowd immediately cheered loudly. She waited a moment for them to quiet back down.

“Hello Sapporo!” Teto waved as she stepped to the middle of the stage, her words being met with the same loud and excited cheer.

“Are you ready for the show to really start?” It didn’t really matter what she said, the response would always be the same cheer. She wouldn’t be able to hear any words over it, but what mattered was that they were excited to see her.

The lights immediately dimmed to prepare for the first song. Teto tried to quickly move towards the back middle of the stage, but ended up stepping on the side of her foot. She stumbled, but reached the spot she was supposed to start on. Her ankle now hurt, but she wasn’t going to let that ruin her performance.

ー

Teto slowly walked into her dressing room, sitting down in front of the mirror to give her ankle a moment to breathe. While she thought she did pretty well performing with it, she was now definitely more aware to be careful with how she moved. If something like that happened again, it’d definitely be more difficult to act like it didn’t.

Teto looked at herself in the mirror, she was relieved that it went well. Not to mention that this meant another day was pretty much complete. She could focus her energy on making sure she was in good shape for her next stroll and concert. Though, she still needed to finish her conversation with Kurosu. The sooner she got to the next hotel room, the sooner she’d be able to.

Teto sighed and got up from the chair, slightly grimacing at the weight put onto her ankle. Without the sense of adrenaline from being watched by hundreds, she felt more sensitive.

She walked to the door with a slight limp, opening it and walking out.

“Hm? Ms. Kasane, are you ready to leave?”

“Yeah.” Teto looked confused for a moment as she counted the security team, “Wait, wasn’t there another one of you?”

Though her question wouldn’t be answered.

“Are you hurt?” One of them asked.

“Yeah, but I can pretend it isn’t there when walking past the fans.”

“Oh, you won’t have to do that this time. For this venue, it’s best to leave out the back.”

Teto paused for a second. When the words finally caught up with her she felt a sense of relief, she wouldn’t need to fake anything for the rest of the day. She followed the team behind backstage and towards the exit, ready to go home.

ー

Teto didn’t waste much time once she got to her next self-themed hotel room to go and shower. Changing into her clothes right after getting out and going to her personal bag for her phone. However, it wasn’t there. Teto paused and tried to think about the last time she saw it, which was at the last hotel on the bed. She completely forgot to put it into her bag.

For a moment she began to panic, starting to pace around the room as she tried to disprove her own memories. Fortunately, she saw her phone on the table. She raised an eyebrow and went to pick it up. The people who took the stuff from one hotel room to the next must’ve grabbed it. It was good to know that they weren’t doing the bare minimum.

Without waiting any longer, she called Kurosu.

“Good evening, Teto.” He began, sounding in a better mood than this morning.

“Hello, Mr. Kurosu.”

“Is there something I can help you with?”

Teto frowned slightly, did he not care to remember the conversation from earlier today?

“Yeah, about the fanmail and contract. I wanted to finish talking about that.”

“Oh.” He didn’t sound particularly excited to bring the topics back up.

“Did anything happen about the fanmail?” Teto asked.

“I have a team working on it.”

“Working on it?” Teto was confused. “How are they working on it?”

“Just sorting the issue and figuring it all out.”

Teto bit her lip, not a very useful response. But she didn’t want to get him in a really bad mood before talking about the next topic.

“Alright then, and about the contract not allowing me to hang out with other idols.” Teto ignored the sigh she heard on the other side of the line.

“Teto, I told you, it’s hard to change a contract. It’ll take time.”

“I get that,” Teto tried to speak in the least confrontational tone possible, “But I have been asking about it for months. Shouldn’t there be any kind of progress there?” Teto knew that she didn’t have any legal knowledge and would need to take his word, but she could at least ask further about it.

“Teto, if you want to hang out with other idols you can freely speak with those part of the agency.”

Teto frowned, those idols absolutely didn’t want anything to do with her. Rather than being managed by an actual manager like them, she got managed by the CEO and apparently received special treatment. The one time she did try to talk with them, they isolated her in every possible topic.

“They don’t like me. And I’m not trying to make new friends, I want to connect with my childhood friends.”

“I get that, but you don’t want to hurt your career right? Interacting with certain people will do that, and if that happens, how do you expect to be above Miku?”

Teto went quiet. She had almost forgotten that she had shared her ambitions with him and the agency. And having it be held against her in this context made her feel nauseous.

“Listen Teto, this is just how things have to be. If things change in the future, only then can we do anything.”

“So you’re saying it isn’t possible?”

“Not right now.”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight Teto, make sure to be well-rest-”

Teto hung up. The conversation was over, so there was no point in talking about anything else.

She tore off the phone case to look at the photo of her and her friends, but it wasn’t there. Teto’s heart dropped as she remembered that she didn’t put it back in the phone case and left it on the nightstand.

She quickly looked around the kitchen table to see if it was left there, which it wasn’t. She moved towards the bed and looked at the nightstand to see if they put it in the same place it was in the last room, but it was empty.

“Fuck!” Teto yelled impulsively. Gripping her phone tightly as she looked around the room anyways. But it wasn’t there, it wasn’t brought to this hotel.

She roughly ran a hand through her hair, trying to calm down.

“Deep breaths…”

Teto took a deep inhale, exhaled, and repeated the process three times. It helped calm her sudden anger down, but she still felt frustrated. That photo was really the last thing she had from back then. One of the only things she had that allowed her to see herself with Miku and Neru. The only reminder she had to her life before signing with this agency.

Teto sat down on the bed, trying to let the frustration and sadness pass her by. She ended up staring blankly at the floor for minutes, waiting for herself to randomly feel alright again. However, the feeling didn’t come. She wanted to see her friends, the loneliness started to get to her.

She looked at the phone she had clasped in her hand. She may not have been able to see her friends in person, but she could at least see what they were up to.

She opened up Twitter, which she hadn’t done in what felt like months. Her notifications were full of comments and likes on her recent posts. She clicked on her profile icon to see her own page, where she was posting daily.

“Oh.”

She knew that there was a social media team that would post on her account. It made sense to Teto that they’d post event schedules and such things. But the way they worded the posts felt more like they were pretending to be her.

The most recent one was from 2 PM today.

Super excited to visit Sapporo today! I hear that the music scene there is great.

Above it was a picture of the venue’s schedule for that day.

Teto scrolled through the comments, the top ones all being positive and excited for it. Though, as she got further down into the comments, she noticed one. It was from a few minutes ago and didn’t agree with the previous comments.

That’s cool and all, but why are there no new songs? The set list is only filled with the songs made by good composers either before you signed with the agency or a few months into it.

A reply to the comment read.

It’s so weird and dumb, but you know your comment is just going to get deleted in the next hour right?

Teto hadn’t really thought about the song list for the shows, but the commenter was right. Nothing about it was new, it was just from the early part of her idol career. Were those songs just liked more?

She scrolled through her profile to see the posts of the new songs, immediately noticing the lack of likes on those posts compared to other types.

So people didn’t like the new songs, that was… not great, but Teto didn’t enjoy them as much either. The composers didn’t feel as connected to their emotions, or as if they didn’t care about the product. The few talented ones that Teto worked alongside on certain songs didn’t seem to have a great time either.

Teto shook her head, this must’ve been what people meant when falling down the internet rabbit hole. She was simply here to look at her friend’s profile.

She went to the search bar and typed in Miku’s name. Although, the only accounts that appeared were fan accounts. Teto searched around the profiles, but she didn’t see any verified or highly followed accounts.

There was no way that Miku didn’t have an account on here, any agency would make an account for their idols if they didn’t already have one. She just had to figure out why it wouldn’t appear.

She’s not blocked right?

She didn’t have any memory of blocking Miku, but why else would her account not pop up?

Teto opened up settings and went to blocked accounts, where there was an extremely long list. Her eyes widened as she swiped up to watch as many accounts went by. Once the scroll had stopped, she had only reached the B-names. She was so confused, most of these accounts she hadn’t even heard of, many not even having a following.

Did the agency block accounts for her? She went to the search bar, as scrolling through accounts would take too long to find certain people. And blocked ones wouldn’t appear if searched.

Adachi Rei

Nothing

Akita Neru

Nothing

Kagamine Len

Nothing

32ki

Nothing

Teto paused to just stare at her screen. If she blocked Miku’s account by accident, it’d make sense, but there were hundreds of blocked accounts. Hell, her friends and even her first big composer were blocked.

Teto turned off her phone. Her brain was starting to go somewhat insane. She didn’t want to lose any more sleep than she was going to, so she’d tuck herself in and look at the wall of her hotel room as her brain would eventually run out of energy trying to connect what was happening with what it used to be so sure of.

～

“You ready, Teto?” Miku’s voice snapped her out of her zone out.

“Huh? Yeah, of course I am!” Teto loudly professed, though Neru scoffed.

Teto turned to face her, “Something to say?” She challenged.

“You’ve been zoned out for the past ten minutes. You didn’t even respond when I started talking.”

“I… didn’t?” Teto asked, though it was to herself. She wasn’t getting nervous before performing, right?

“It’s alright if you’re nervous, Teto. I know this crowd is much bigger than what you’re used to.” Miku tried to comfort.

“Hey! What are you trying to say!” Teto yelled.

“No no, nothing like that Teto. I just mean that it’s normal to be anxious.” Miku moved directly in front of Teto, taking her hands in her own, “But you’re going to do great, okay? And you’ll show all of them that you’re just as good as me.”

Teto looked up at Miku, the word to describe the feeling she felt was adjacent to starstruck. Miku’s confidence must’ve been contagious with how Teto’s subconscious stopped talking. She didn’t even notice it until it was suddenly gone.

“I-yeah, that’s what I was thinking.” Teto said, putting her hands to her side after standing up. Brushing off the feeling she just had. Neru snickered, but Teto paid her no mind.

“Alright, let’s go! Time to show people who I am.” Teto said with pride, Miku smiled happily.

～

Teto woke up to her phone ringing. She groggily reached over to pick it up, hitting the, ‘accept call’ button on the third try.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Kasane, are you alright?”

“Huh?” Teto sat up and rubbed her eyes, “Yeah I’m fine. Why are you asking?” The voice on the other line sounded like one of the security people.

“It’s 11, and we don’t see you outside the hotel.”

Teto immediately woke up, “Shit, 11? Give me a minute, I’ll be right down.”

She hung up and quickly rushed to the bathroom. She didn’t have time to get any breakfast or shower, so all she could do was put her hair up and dress in outside clothing.

ー

Teto exited the hotel and reached the security team, it was pretty clear to them that she came out in a rush, but there was nothing to be done about it at this point.

“Good to see that you’re awake. Go ahead and walk around, we’ll trail behind as usual.” One of them said.

“Alright.”

Teto nodded and started to walk down the sidewalk. Her ankle was sore, but it wasn’t very difficult to manage. It might hurt a bit after a while, but she’d be fine. Not like she could just end the tour.

ー

After walking for a while, Teto reached a crossing. A parent and their daughter were walking on the other side of the sidewalk from Teto, but the second the little girl saw the idol she nearly lost it.

“Dad! Look! It’s Kasane!” She tugged on her father’s hand and pointed at Teto.

“Hm?” He looked down at his daughter endearingly and then up at where she pointed, “Oh wow, it is.”

Teto looked down at the kid, then at the father, making a little waving motion.

“Dad, can I get a photo with her?” It seemed the tradition was passed down to fans of any age.

“You’ll have to ask her.” He motioned to Teto.

The girl then looked up at her, “Can I get a photo?”

Teto smiled, but the motion felt more taxing than it ever did, “Sure, come here.”

Teto kneeled down, the girl went in front of her and faced her father. Teto put a hand on the kid’s shoulder and raised a peace sign.

The dad took the photo.

“Ah, thank you Ms. Kasane. This will make her day.”

“Don’t mention it.” Teto replied, going to stand up before noticing that the kid turned around to face her.

“You’re so cool! I want to be like you one day!” The girl exclaimed. Teto smiled again, but it felt more flat, “I want to be an Idol just like you!”

Teto paused, her expression changing.

“No you don’t.”

“Huh?” The girl’s energetic and happy nature paused.

“You don’t want to be an idol. Please, don’t say things like that.”

“What?” She looked so confused

“Haha, let’s get going Ena.” The dad interrupted and took his daughter’s hand with a concerned expression and began to walk down the sidewalk.

Teto took a second to gather herself. She stood up and began to continue her walk in the opposite direction. She watched the sidewalk until she reached the intersection. She looked up and noticed a decent amount of people coming her way.

She immediately looked to her right and saw no one down that side. She chose to round the corner and avoid walking past the people. She wasn’t nearly ready enough to interact with fans, and would spend the rest of her stroll deliberately walking away from any number of people.

ー

Teto didn’t attempt to speak once to the makeup artist. This time she was quite thankful that they weren’t up for conversation. She didn’t feel like talking either. The her from last night now fully caught up and present again.

“Done.” The artist announced.

Teto just silently got up from her chair and walked to the backstage. One of the staff gave her the thumbs up, and she took a deep breath. She wouldn’t be able to clear her mind, but she could at least prepare to fake herself on the stage. Not like the fans really knew who she was either.

She walked into view, waving with a larger than normal smile.

“Hello Osaka!” They cheered, and she just waited for them to stop. It took longer than she wanted.

“Time for the show to start!” She announced, the lights going dark as she moved to the back middle of the stage like she had done enough times to remember.

The lights came on and Teto went on with the dance routine that was almost burned into her brain. Though, every now and then, she’d mess up slightly. Hand positions being slightly off, missing a cue once or twice. Each time she messed up she felt so frustrated and tried to focus her efforts more on not slipping up. But it kept happening. She felt some of the last shreds of composure begin to chip away as she struggled.

ー

The second Teto was in the dressing room she slammed the door shut. Her eyes stuck staring at the ground intensely. All it took was a little shaking up from last night, and suddenly she couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t hold her thoughts in when talking to a fan. She couldn’t follow the dance routine that she must’ve practiced and done hundreds of times at this point.

Teto grabbed the back of the chair and roughly threw it to the side. Planting both of her hands on the corners of the vanity mirror’s counter. Her breathing was heavy, and she didn’t have anyone to comfort her. Didn’t help that she didn’t have her phone on her. Didn’t help that her manager couldn’t care to help her out of isolation.

She looked up into the mirror, looking at the person that stared back. She didn’t recognize them. She didn’t know them, did she? Did anyone? People probably think they do. But no one knows the person in the mirror, because they themselves couldn’t describe them. Ambitious? She didn’t even know if she cared about being better than Miku. All that Teto knew about the person in the mirror was that they caused all of this. They signed on with this agency.

Teto grabbed one of the items on the counter and threw it as hard as she could at the mirror. Watching it shatter and most pieces fall off.

Teto didn’t feel like she had released her emotions nearly enough to be back to normal. Be it against her better judgement, she grabbed one of the shards tightly. Her hand immediately began bleeding over it as she squeezed tightly. It hurt, yet it was helping her come back to herself. But it wasn’t enough.

ー

Teto walked out of the dressing room with a jacket on, her hands gripping the insides of the sleeves tightly to avoid them slipping.

“Teto, are you ready?”

“Yeah, just lead me out the back.”

The security paused before speaking, “That was only for the last venue. And Kurosu really wants you to walk out the main entrance, as lots of paparazzi take photos of this venue.”

Teto looked at the man incredulously, but then she thought.

What’s the worst that could happen?

ー

Upon walking out of the venue, fans cheered, and those closest to the path Teto was walking paused at the sudden uneasy feeling. There were indeed people taking photos, but some lowered their cameras as they noticed a red substance stain the sleeves of the jacket.

Teto ignored them, just walking towards the car so she could get to the hotel room.

She heard someone ask something, and she glanced over at a woman with a worried expression, but then turned back to enter the car.

ー

Teto’s phone had been ringing for the past 10 minutes. She sat silently at the kitchen table staring at it. She didn’t want to talk to Kurosu, she knew that he’d be yelling before she could. So why would she answer?

Simple. She wanted to hear him melt down over his personal project.

“What the hell happened today?! I heard that you messed up a bit at the show itself, and that was already an issue. But why are you suddenly trending online? People are terrified, and do you understand how this looks from a business standpoint?! Hell! You haven’t even finished the tour!”

. . .

“Are you even listening?! How do you expect to be better than Miku if-”

“I don’t care anymore!” Teto yelled, “I don’t care if I’m better because I won’t get to see her reaction to it! I’m apparently not even supposed to look at what she’s doing, so how the hell could I get off to being better if I don’t know anything!”

“Listen, tomorrow’s stroll is going to be replaced by some kind of apology okay? This looks horrible on me-” There it was, confirmation that Teto wasn’t the real interest, “-The investors are going to start freaking out on me now!”

“Goodnight, Mr. Kurosu.” Teto spoke before promptly ending the call and muting any notifications on the phone.

An Idol should rest well the night before a performance, so she should make sure she gets as much sleep as possible for tomorrow.

～

“Ah, Ms. Kasane Teto! What an honor it is to have you here.” The CEO spoke, smiling widely at Teto who sat across the table from him.

“Why thank you,” Teto responded, “So let’s get down to business, right?” She spoke, though she knew nothing of business.

“Right,” The CEO nodded and motioned with his arm to an old man sitting at the side of the table, “Just so you are aware, there is a lawyer here to explain the details of the contract to you.” There was an ulterior motive with stating that, but Teto couldn’t help but be consumed by the idea of signing with an idol agency.

“Well, that sounds like it’ll take forever, so let’s start now so we can get to the fun part.”

The CEO laughed and nodded. He began to describe the terms of the contract to Teto, though she didn’t want to pay much attention. The lawyer would rarely clarify things, but that was about all he did.

“Mr. Kurosu, there are two visitors here to see you.”

The CEO paused and looked down at the intercom, pressing a button down on it as he responded, “You are aware that I am with a very important client right now, yes?”

“Yes sir, You are currently meeting with Kasane Teto, correct?”

“Yes”

“Well, these two people would li-”

“Tell them that you’ll trespass them. This meeting is important and I need to make sure it goes well.”

He shut off the intercom before resuming the contract talk. It took about an hour, but eventually they got to the point of signing it.

“So I just put my initials and signature here?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Okay then.” Teto took the pen and brought it to the paper.

～

Teto woke up. She already knew that she hadn’t been asleep for long. The window allowed her to clearly see that the sun was just about finishing setting.

She sat up and looked down at the sheets, the spots by her arms were stained red. Her idol attire still stuck to her body uncomfortably.

This won’t end will it?

Everything was quiet, Teto could only hear her thoughts and her ears ringing.

I doubt fighting that contract would be easy.

Her forearms somehow felt slightly numb.

And even after that, idol agencies don’t pick up ex-idols in fear of their past agency.

Her mouth felt dry. She hadn’t drank anything in a while.

I want to be an idol still.

She missed the colors and feel of her first idol outfit.

But I don’t know if that can still happen unless I stay here.

Even if her idol ambitions were greatly fueled by the “rivalry” with Miku, that was the one career path she saw that could fulfill her.

I don’t think I can enjoy living if I forfeit my ambitions, my dreams. What’d be the point then?

Her hands took more effort and time to fully clench.

I guess that makes me lucky in a sense. At least I don’t have to still be close to my friends while I hurt like this. They can’t worry about what they don’t know. As for what they do, it won’t hurt them as much since I’m no longer a part of their life.

She looked out the window as she felt a droplet slide down her cheek.

It’s all my fault, so they won’t be allowed to blame themselves.

Teto scooted herself towards the edge of the bed, using her arms to push herself off it. She stalked towards the kitchen table where her phone laid. She looked down at the black screen, seeing the faintest reflection of “herself.”

It’s my fault that I no longer know if I’m the same girl who was friends with Miku and Neru, or a ghost born of her own poor decision.

She picked it up, the screen lighting up her face.

But I’ll still follow what all idols eventually do.

She opened up her social media account.

“We all eventually graduate.”

ー

I’m sorry to announce anything at such a short notice. Though, if I may be honest, it has been forever since I announced anything. This account has been nothing more than my agency’s marketing. Kind of crazy right? This thing that should show you a side of me, has for the most part, been run by my team who I don’t know a single thing about and vice versa. But that doesn’t matter anymore, I want to get to the point.

I wanted to announce my idol graduation that will be happening extremely soon- almost immediately after this post. I will be holding a quick show at the Window Peak Osaka Hotel, where I will announce some details as to why this is happening so suddenly. But don’t worry, if you can’t make it, I’ll be livestreaming it on this account.

Sorry if I might not be who you think you know, I’m not sure I know at this point either. And sorry to the people at the last stop of my tour, I didn’t mean for this to at all impact your plans.

-Kasane Teto

ー

The password to the social media account was changed, Teto luckily had her own phone number linked which allowed her to reset it. Her team wouldn’t be able to delete the post, nor stop her during the livestream. She was allowed to freely express herself, or at least the remnant memories.

The handle to the rooftop door was also heavily damaged on the inside, not allowing it to be turned to open the door. Giving Teto executive and private access to her own high-rise stage.

She walked towards the edge of the rooftop, the same side as the entrance to the hotel. And as she somewhat anticipated, there was quite a large crowd down there. They cluttered the sidewalk and street.

She knew that she was too far up to yell down to them. Though, that’s why she had the phone. So she could livestream and have her voice heard clearly.

Teto took a deep breath as she did before any other performance, and held the phone at arm’s length to better show herself. She could hear the crowd below quiet down slightly a few seconds after she went live.

She suddenly realized that she didn’t know exactly what she wanted to say, or how she wanted to structure it. But it didn’t matter, she had all of this time to herself.

“Hello! Welcome to my little graduation stream,” Teto bit her lip and looked away for a moment as she tried to figure out what to say next, “I know that this is probably deeply upsetting to many of you. I feel the same way, but not about the graduation. About the terms that brought me to it.”

She scoffed and laughed a little bit, “I’m sure that some of you know that, I was once friends with a very well-known idol. I considered her my rival for a long time, but also my best friend.”

The words felt like a bitter sludge that filled her mouth.

“Ever since I became this idol, under this agency, I haven’t been allowed to even see her. Not even our mutual friend who I also considered a best friend. Why? Well, the agency was concerned that it could possibly start rumors and mess with my image. Except, it was all mostly about their own image.”

There was so much of the disgusting taste, she wanted to hunch over and spit it all out. But she knew that wouldn’t work.

“I also haven't been involved in any projects that I really like. For at least the past year, none of them felt like me, like they were soulless or conflicting,” She sniffled, “Unfortunately, I ignored how I felt so that I could instead fulfill what my agency wanted. Changing my image beyond what I or anyone I really knew would be able to recognize.”

She suppressed a cry, she needed the sludge to be removed from her mouth before being able to proceed.

“I was isolated, and the idol I thought I would be was mangled. Beyond what I could ever dream of as savable. Because I know that even if I can somehow get out of my contract, I’ll be seen as tainted, and therefore avoided by any other agency. Not sure I’d really want to sign with any more though, not after considering what things that they all likely share in their contracts.”

She felt a pang in her heart, and the bitterness didn’t seem removable.

“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to be an idol. This is the only career path I could ever see being fulfilling for me.”

And maybe no matter how hard she tried, it wouldn’t go away.

“But what I’ve done has stopped me from being me. I don’t truly remember the last time I was myself before eating out my own heart. I’m not even sure that the remnants that I thought were the characteristics of who I was are even actually true.”

It definitely didn’t feel like the bitter sludge that she felt was drowning her would go away overnight.

“There’s so much to say, but…” She wiped her eyes with her cut arm, “I don’t think I can ever truly explain to you how it was. Nor can I avoid this haunting where I’m the ghost.”

Teto looked from the phone and down at the crowd. She could see shreds of colorful clothing amidst the dark hair. But one thing she immediately noticed was a brightly colored teal head. She felt multiple droplets fall from her eyes and trail down to her chin.

“So, I don’t think I’ll try. I think that maybe I can skip the schedule expected of me and get right to the end.”

Teto turned around and set the phone up against an air conditioning unit, aimed at the edge of the roof. She climbed onto the half wall and looked down at the people below her.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t the idol any of you deserved.”

She looked down at the teal head in the crowd.

～

“Hah… Hah…” Teto loudly regained her breath, hunched over at the backstage where Neru watched and Miku followed.

“Wow, you’re really spent, aren’t you.”

“I wasn’t… ready… to be up there… for that long.” Teto spoke in between heavy breaths

“Well, you did really good!” Miku almost cheered, “You kept up super well, and everyone in the crowd loved you!”

Teto opened one eye to look up at Miku, ‘You really… Think so?”

“Mhm!” Miku nodded with a certain and happy expression.

“I gotta admit, you did do pretty good.” Neru spoke.

“Wow…” Teto stood back up straight, having caught her breath, “You really know how to make me feel all great.” She spoke sarcastically.

“Well, what does my opinion matter when the online audience was singing praises beyond what I thought possible from any sane person.”

“Come on Neru, your opinion obviously matters because you’re our best friend.”

“Really? Look at Teto,” Neru motioned, to which Miku looked at an ecstatic Teto, “She seems a little more pleased at the huge online audience than when I complimented.”

Miku laughed a little, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

As Teto began an upward spiral, her phone that she set down on the table lit up with a notification. The sound, and Teto’s immediate attention towards the notification, made everyone look over to it.

“Expecting someone?” Neru asked.

“On the posts made for this event, we made sure to include my contact information for anyone interested in supporting me.”

Neru sent a concerned look towards Miku, who just smiled and shrugged.

Teto picked up her phone and opened the notification, her body immediately freezing upon looking at the message.

“Teto?” Neru spoke up, to which there was no response.

She looked at Miku before the two of them moved to Teto’s sides to look at the phone screen.

“Oh wow! An agency scouted you.” Miku spoke.

“Oh wow, they actually did.” Neru was somewhat surprised.

“They want to have a meeting with me tomorrow to discuss signing with them!” Teto almost yelled, whipping around to face her friends.

Neru and Miku’s expressions changed slightly, Neru’s skeptically and Miku’s sheepishly.

“Are you going to go to it?” Neru asked.

“What do you think? Yeah I’m going to!”

“Teto, this is only the first agency. Not to mention you should know a few things before heading straight first into signing.” Miku tried to gently inform, “And you need to prepare a lawyer to make sure you’re signing something good. Even though Kaito trusts Crypton, he made all of us go into the meeting with a lawyer to make sure we got fair treatment.”

“Fair treatment, I’ll show you fair treatment.” Teto scrolled to a specific part of the message and showed her phone back to her two friends.

“That’s… A lot of yen.” Neru froze up.

“E-Eh?!” Miku too.

“I may not be the biggest expert, but I know that this is an insane amount of money. I’d have to be crazy to turn it down.”

“I-I get that,” Miku stuttered, still trying to get over the base amount of yen, “But you need to be really careful with these things, Teto.”

“Come on Miku, I think I can handle myself. If they say anything insane, I’ll shoot them down.”

“But that’s no-”

“Listen Miku, I understand the worry. But I think I should know what to do. If I follow this path laid out in front of me, there’s no doubt that I’ll best you in the idol world.”

“Teto, you know she’s just a little worried.”

Teto looked earnestly at Miku, “I got this okay,” Then she smiled and turned back to her ambitious self, “And before you’ll know it, one day you’ll stand by powerlessly as I, Kasane Teto, stand far above you.”

～

I just wish that it wasn’t in this context…

The sound of the wind rushing past her as she descended wasn’t nearly as loud as the soul that inhabited this body all that time ago.