The night was filled with shouting and cheering as the Japan Idol Festival takes place. Ai walks pass people, trying to squeeze in and get a better view of the stage
"Excuse me, coming through."
Ai found a good spot; standing in there, she turns her head behind, calling out for Akira. She waves her hand, shouting
"Akira-sama, I've found a good spot, come over here!"
Akira turns his head to Ai, scratching his head as he sigh in relief. All people looks up at him making space as quick as they can because of his height.
"It's a relief that I found the ant."
Ai punches his shoulder, hitting it with all her strength as she whisper sarcastically
"Stop making jokes about my height Burj Khalifa."
Akira raises an eyebrow as he thought of Ai's punch power.
"Was that her full power? That's the weakest punch i've ever received from her so far..."
"Even a mantis' attack hurts more than her."
While watching at the current group performing, they overheard a conversation of old guys.
"Boss, can we stay and watch the next performance, too? Mem cho is going to perform."
"I've heard her name before. Who is she?"
"A cute and funny streamer."
Ai turns her head to them as she listen closer.
"She appeared in my love recently."
The man turns his head to his friend; recalling.
"Oh, the show that broke the Internet, huh?"
His friend nods, smiling excitingly
"Now she's going an Idol group called B-Komachi."
"B-Komachi?" he replied in familiarity. His voice below a whisper.
"Do you know about it?" his other friend asked.
He frowns, looking at the ground in disappointment.
"Today's young people don't know it, huh? But once upon a time, there was a group the exact same name...and the legendary girl, Ai, was one of the members. She was amazing, but her career was cut short when she died."
He crossed his arms as he turns his head to the stage, watching the next group to perform, B-Komachi.
"Only their name is the same. Well, let's watch them for a bit before we head back."
Ai smiles gently as she looks away in gratitude as she thought.
"It seems like they really loved me, huh? I guess I really did leave an everlasting mark. I suppose I'll be happy for that."
Akira replies sarcastic as he watches B-Komachi climb up the stage.
"Cutest Gremlin. Here they come."
Ai turns her head at the stage as she steps in closer to get a better through the people blocking her view. Her eyes shone excitingly as she whisper.
"But now, prove then wrong, Ruby-chan. Be the greatest Idol ever than me to exist!"
The song starts to play (Star T Rain)
Ruby, Kana and Mem-cho stands at the stage and Kana as the center. She looks down on the ground, her heart pounding loud for their first performance.
"I'm not particularly nervous when I'm up on stage. If any thing, I feel rather calm."
"We've got enough visitors. I wasn't worried about it, considering we had an influencer in our group. I also see more red glow sticks than I expected."
"Those who are standing in front are waving yellow glow sticks. Oh, well, Mem-cho attracts most people after all. All our fans just want to see her."
"Everyone came to see her...if she had been the lead girl, the audience would've been happier."
THE NIGHT BEFORE
Ruby enters the room
"I call dibs on the red glow stick, the same color as Ai!"
Mem-cho grabs a glow stick after
"In that case, I'll take the yellow one."
Ruby turns her head to Kana as she asks the color of her glow stick
"Wha about you, senpai?"
Kana grabs one after a few seconds of consideration, grabbing a white one
"If I can choose any color, I'll go with white."
AT THE PRESENT TIME
The man asks his boss, smiling
"So? As an old fan of B-Komachi, what do you think of them?"
The man stared in disappointment, ready to leave.
"They're completely different. This isn't B-Komachi."
"Thsy group existed because they had a star called Ai. Just because they've gathered thee worthless girls doesn't mean that..."
Ruby noticed Kana's sorrowed expressions, she leans in closer to her, smiling, trying to cheer Kana up. She turns her head to the fan's winking at them with an energetic smile.
Both Kana, The Old man and Ai herself saw Ai/herself in the emitted aura Ruby just gave.
The old man blushes as he waves his red glowsticks
"Boss?!"
Akira crosses his arms
"She's definitely your child. No doubt."
Ai smiles at Akira as she waves her red glow stick higher. She turns her head to Akira.
"I mean who else would she inherit such glow except from the cutest, the most beautiful and radiant one from the group before."
Akira scoffs.
"I bet you're the most proudest among the mothers in the earth right now."
Ai smiles, putting a thumb on herself
"Who else?"
Akira then turns his head to Kana, noticing her downed behaviour for the whole performance. After that, he turns his head to look at Ai, only to notice she's missing the white glow stick.
Akira confronted her in confusion
"Where is your white glow stick?"
Ai pouts, crossing her arms.
"I don't like that child, Kana Arima. She never apologized for bad mouthing me, and now you expect me to bring a white one?"
Akira gives her an extra white glow stick, insisting.
"You know, Hating is also murder. Plus, you're their dance mentor, can't you just show a soft heart?"
Ai hesitates before grabbing the glow stick from Akira's hand, scoffing
"Ah, I suppose you're right."
The first song ends. The second song begins (Sign Was B) Kana looks at audience, noticing their hype after Ruby's emitted aura.
"Ah...she's so radiant."
"She loved idols, and she always has a blast. It's like she's born to be an idol."
Kana sighed
"Even now she's captivating their hearts. She'd getting more and more fans. Someone like her will always improve and advance."
Kana grips her mic tightly. Crying inside
"I'm jealous. Everyone sees them...and wants them. On the other hand, no one cares about me...My mom and manager neglected me...and the fans only see the child actor in me. Somebody look at me."
"That had been my scream for more than a decade. Say that you need me. And I'll give my all. Say that I'm useful. And I'll do it more heartedly. Praise me and tell me I did a good job and I'll work even harder."
"Somebody...anybody...say that it's fine for me to be here."
One white glow stick appears among the crowd, Kana quickly noticed it. It was Aqua...her eyes shone in hope. She noticed him holding both three glowsticks. Aqua started doing his signature glow stick dance. Even the fans are shock to see his skills. Kana hides a laughter.
"He's making a fool of himself! How is he doing that without even smiling? He's politely waving all of our colors."
"So you're posing as a fan of the entire group? You Cheater!"
She then noticed Ai and Akira wave three of their glowsticks too.
"Airi-san... She definitely still holdd a grudge at mem but atleast she's trying her best. Come to think of it. She definitely looks like Ai. And Ruby looks like Ai. And Airi and Ruby looked similar in face, too."
Kana turns her head back to Aqua. Smiling
"He really is annoying. I'll teach him a lesson."
"I've decided. As long as I'm an Idol, I'll make you wave only a white glowsticks. I'll make you Love me."
Kana executes the bridge verse move by pointing directly at Aqua as she shouts.
"I'll be your only Idol!"
Akira's phone vibrates as he received another notif of another hacking attemp.
Akira excuses himself but Ai grabs his hands, lowering the phone while she taps the phone too to put the recover the third firewall. She winked, saying
"For now, put that responsibility away and focus on me. Focus on the group's performance. Please, enjoy this moment for once."
Akira freezes.
He quickly regains composure, putting the phone back to his pocket.
"You saw that right? Aqua's dance?"
Ai chuckles, covering her mouth.
"He he he, that dance felt familiar. It was from 16 years ago, too. Same dance, same song."
The old man's friend turns their head to their boss excitingly, noticing Kana'd glow up.
"Bisd, isn't she good, too? Her expression is getting better and better. I really want to cheer for her."
The Old Man watches in awe as he felt more nostalgic.
"The three of them would've been a star in any groups. And nerds would especially go for the one in the middle. She's the lead girl and she's good at singing."
"They'll probably be popular, after all."
Even some other idol groups watched them perform in awe. She was also quickly pulled by Ruby's aura. She admires their group. Deciding to quit before the day her group even declared her time is over. She saw the group B-Komachi as the chosen ones forward for the next step.
Just right before the performance finish, Ruby searched her eyes among the crowd to look for Airi and Akirs. She eventually found them. Her eyes lit up in excitement.
"Just as I thought, thank you for supporting us, Airi-sama–"
The stage light shone brighter at Airi Dan's face. Uncovering the dark shade from Airi-sama's glasses. Ruby's eyes widened as she looks at Airi who looks exactly like her mother, Ai.
"Mama...Mama?!"
The performance finished.
Aqua went quickly to the van, opening a laptop as he stalks Akira's Insta acc.
Just right at that moment. Akira was also in his laptop. He noticed two accounts trying to get into his third party accounts. One of them was Kuroha, breaking through the final defense. He quickly tried to recover as he thought.
"Karou-kun has another attacker, since when?"
Kuroha smiles as he smells the scent of victory nearby.
"I made it. The final firewall!"
Meanwhile, Aqua searched for Akira's social account, clicking unto one available account.
Before they could even get the slightest glance. They found nothing in his account. Akira successfully blocks them off from seeing anything from his account.
Aqua raises an eyebrow at the empty social account. Raising suspicion.
"What the..."
Kuroha slams the desk in frustration.
"I was so close!"
Hikaru enters the room, he had observed everything.
"What a clutch from Akirs-sama. Expect him to not fall that easily."
Kuroha turns his head to Hikaru, raising an eyebrow
"Alresdy finished watching your daughter perform?"
Silence.
Hikaru smirks as he looks at his phone, catching a video of their performance.
"Yeah, I'll definitely keep a close eye on her."
Meanwhile, Ruby enters the van. Aqua had already put his Laptop in aside, keeping a composed face.
"Oh, Aqua, you came, too?"
After a while, the van took off, driven by Miyako.
"How was our performance?" Kana asked.
Aqua turns his head away, looking at the window before replying,
"Well, you did well, considering it was your first time on stage..."
Kana looks at him in irritation, craving for more praise.
"What the heck, praise us more."
"I can't." Aqua exclaimed.
"From now on, you'll do something even more amazing."
"Guveb that, it'd be a waste if I give you high scores now."
Kana furrows her eyebrows, scoffing
"I see."
After an awkward silence, Ruby spoke sarcastically
"They finally...feel like talking to each other again."
Mem-cho turns her head at both Aqua and Kana in worry
"They don't seem to get along, huh?"
"That's not it." Miyako replied
"Hey, Aqua. Are things going well between you and Akane from my love?"
"No, I haven't met her since then." Aqua replied.
"Is that so?"
Aqua continued, saying
"Beside, we're only a couple for work purposes. She's been asking me to meet up and take pictures for her Instagram though.
Lana's eyes lit up, whispering
"Work...?"
"Hmph! Of course! There's no way Akane Kurokawa would really fall for you! It was only for the show, eh? That happens!"
She turns her head to Aqua, leaning her head closer in vain pity.
"I feel sorry for you, but you shouldn't take that seriously!"
Mem-cho smiles sheepishly, whispering
"Arima-chan is suddenly grinning from ear to ear..."
Mem-cho's smile suddenly fade as she realizes a love triangle of Aqua, Kana and Akane.
"Wait, is that how it is?! Arima-chan likes Aqu-tan, too...?!"
She looks Kana's expressful eyes from behind in shock. Confirming her thoughts.
Mem cries as she starts doubting her cheer for Akane.
"Akane!! Which of you should I root for?!"
The next morning, at a staff promotion building.
"Akane, we've confirmed your next job."
Akane turns her head to the staff, raising an eyebrow
"Huh? Is this for real?"
She takes the paper from the staff. She blushes as she saw Aqua's name among the casts, again... Her heart flutters.
"I can work...with Aqua-kun again."