“Memories & Visions”

A month later, HEAVENS have finally
skyrocketed to success with Lily’s help.
With her fame, HEAVEN’s popularity
immediately rose. Their ability was
immediately acknowledged by other
agencies, companies and etc and
recognized them as a tough rival.
STARISH is the same as their mentors
help them improve slowly. Also, a new
member has joined them as well.
A prince from Agnapolis.

However… in HEAVEN’s private studio…

“A tough rival, eh?~”
Nagi hums.
“They’re not even enough to call
  it a match with us!” He says angrily,
as if he was insulted to be labeled
as a rival of “lowly” people he says.

“Indeed, they’re not worthy to
  be called our rival.” Eiichi comments
confidently.

“You think so too, right, Kira?”
Nagi bothers Kira.

“…Yeah.”
Kira nods reluctantly.

However, they were interrupted
by Raging Otori, the father Eiichi
Otori and the president of the
Raging Entertainment Agency.

“The battle for the UtaPri award is about
  to start. You three will win it, aye?”
He tells HEAVENS.

“The UtaPri award! Hell yeah! That’s
  our target in the first place anyway!”
Nagi confidently speaks.

“You’re already nominated.”
Otori says with a taunting smile.

HEAVENS did not fully rejoice; only
smirks on their faces were seen.
As if they saw it coming, that they
expected to be nominated right away.

Meanwhile, in Shining Agency

“YOU’RE NOMINATED!”
Saotome cheerfully informed them.

STARISH rejoiced, they were happy.
Reiji happily congratulates them while
the rest of Quartet Night could care less.

“However…”
Saotome cut them off.
“I believe one more group has been
  nominated as well. You can’t relax
  yet.” He says.

“Another group.. huh? Well then
  just beat them!” Reiji encouraged
  STARISH.

“Hell yeah!” Otoya and Syo were
both full of energy.

“There will be a bonus if you win though.”
Saotome continues. “Not just from me, but
from 3 certain stars as well.”

“3 certain stars? I wonder who they are?”
Natsuki says.

Meanwhile… in Lily’s workplace…

“I will be one of the judges for
  the battle for the UtaPri award?”
Lily was quite surprised.

“Indeed.” Juha nods.
“You and Aine will be the one to judge.”

“Who am I judging then?”
Lily asks.

“STARISH and HEAVENS. Those two group
  are the biggest ones right now. STARISH
  of the Shining Agency.. HEAVENS of the
  Raging Entertainments. It will be exciting.”
Juha comments with an excited face.

“S-Shining Agency…?” Lily exclaims.
“(I might encounter Ai-kun again if that
   happens.. just my mere connection to
   Aine makes it more possible for me to
   run into Ai-kun anytime…)”

“The one who will win the UtaPri award will
  also receive additional rewards from us as well.”
Aine finally spoke. “I’m thinking of sponsoring the
winning group’s next biggest concert.” He says.

“Bonuses... Huh?” Lily says.
“I don’t know what to give them…”

“Why don’t you just take the winning group in
  as your official apprentice? In your current place,
  your popularity is in the same level as the band
  Quartet Night, or even higher now that you’ve been
  more active than them.” Juha suggests. “Taking them
  as an apprentice would mean big to them.”

“I guess that would do.”
Lily decides.

Meanwhile, back in Shining Agency…

“I’m so excited for our apprentices!
  I’m sure they’ll win!”
Reiji happily says.

“Hmph. You say that but you don’t
  even know their rival group yet.”
Ranmaru grumpily says so.

“Even so, I am sure that STARISH
  will win!” Reiji forces.

“Still we are responsible in helping
  them develop even better.”
Camus reminds them.

“You’re right.”
Ai agrees.

Ai walks in to his room.
Syo and Natsuki isn’t around.
He’s once again busy calculating
and fixing some data and other stuffs.
He’s wearing the watch that Lily gave
to him on his birthday last time…
Although… he doesn’t know that anymore.

He wanted to enter sleep mode already but
he noticed a cat in the window. He walks up
to it and opens the window to let it in.
It was a white cat, only it is male.

“What are you doing here?”
Ai asks it.
“Cats…” He mutters as he
stares at it. “…Cats…?”

Some scenes flashed inside his head.

“Let’s call it ----.”
The last part was muted in his mind.
“Snow is beautiful”
“---but not as beautiful as you”
“My world revolves around you.”
“For you”
“I missed you”
“I love you.”

Suddenly, Ai held on to his head, he
felt it ache. He decided that something
must be wrong with his system and
finally lies down on his bed.
“Who’s “you”?”
He asks himself as he decides
to enter sleep mode, ignoring
the white cat he let it.

The cat eventually lied down
next to him and curled up in a ball.

The next morning, he decided to pay
a visit to the professor to have him
checked. Although the professor
said that nothing was wrong, Ai was
still bothered by it. But he didn’t
ask the professor anymore.

 Before he could leave,
he was called by Aine.

“Yo.”
Aine greets.

 “Hello.”
Ai answers.

 “Are you busy?”
Aine asked.

 “Not really.”
Ai answered immediately.

 “How about we drink together?”
Aine invites him.

 “…Sure.”
Ai agrees.

Aine drives the car and keeps
chatting with Ai on the way.
He parked in front of a luxurious
restaurant. There aren’t many
people around for security is
tight and bystanders aren’t allowed.
With this, popular people like them
can eat in peace.

"So.. Ai. How have you been?"
Aine asks him with a smile.

"I'm fine."
Ai answers.

"I see. I heard you're a mentor now."
Aine says.

"Yeah, I'm a mentor of STARISH."
Ai nods.

"That's great! Actually, I wanted to talk
  to you about them for I will be judging for
  them in the upcoming UtaPri awards."
Aine says.

"Really? Well, I don't care about it at all.
  All I can say is STARISH is good."
Ai admits to himself.

"Hm.. is that so.."
Aine smirks.

"What about you? You've been working with
  the famous idol Crystal."
Ai asks him in return.

"Yeah. She's quite an interesting one despite
  being as cold as ice but you sure as hell can
  feel the warmth in her songs."
Aine proudly says.

"Oh. Well, if you don't mind, I'm leaving now.
   I remembered I have something to do."
Ai stands as he excuses himself.

"Really? Well what a shame. Want me to drive
  you out? There'll be lots of paparazzi outside."
Aine offers a hand.

"No thanks, I can handle myself."
Ai politely turns him down and walks away.
"Well then, until we meet again."
He said as he left.

Left inside the restaurant, Aine sighs
as he checks his phone.

"Oh right.. I was going to meet Crystal too."
Aine says as he remembered the moment he
read a text message from her.
"She's headed here right now..?"

Outside, Ai walks casually. However, he
was spotted by certain gangsters and
decided to mess with him by teasing him.

"Oh, is that the famous Cyan Star? He don't
  look special to me at all!"
"I know right? He looks so gay and ugly!"
"No way! How dare you call him ugly? You guys
  are rude! He's actually PRETTY!"
"HAHAHA! That's nice man!"
"Hey Mikaze, care to be our babe for a day?"
A group of half-drunk men messes with Ai.

However, Ai just simply keeps walking without
blinking or laying an eye on them.

"Hey, are you listening to us?! How dare you
  ignore us, hey!!!"
 One of the men grabbed him by the shoulder.

But Ai's data contains information of basic martial
arts or mainly for self-defense purposes. He is programmed
to automatically defend himself when his body confirms to sense
danger or any threat that may pose harm to him. Unfortunately, they
were too many and one of them pushed him. A car was just about
to pass by and almost hit him. But here comes the luck, the car stopped
just in time. The driver got out of her car and rushed to Ai...

"(No way... Ai-kun... to think I'll meet you here.. LIKE THIS!)"
Lily a.k.a Crystal, was apparently the one driving the car and
hurriedly assisted Ai and gave him a helping hand to help him stand.
"Are you alright?" She asks hesitatingly.

"Yes, I'm fine."
Ai says without looking at her.
"Wait... you are... Crystal."

"Y-You know me?" She blushes.

"T-That's Crystal! HEH! Getting lucky are we?!"
The gangsters plans on bullying the two of them.

"I won't allow you to hurt a lady." Ai says as he
stands before Lily.

"(Ai-kun...)" Lily was lost in thoughts, staring at
him, she felt the water rise in her eyes but she
immediately wipes it off.

However, the gangsters were forced to stop as a
bunch of civilians spotted Ai and Lily together. One
after another, paparazzis came and Lily dragged Ai
to her car and drove far away from the people.

"Hey it seems the rumors are true after all!!
  Crystal and the Cyan Star are probably dating!!!"
"No way! Ai Mikaze himself said he didn't know her!"
"Well he could tell a little lie you know?"
"They say they ranaway together and they were in
  the same car together!!"
"AWWW THAT'S SO CUTE!!!"

Fans have begun to over exaggerate things.

Meanwhile...

"Good.. we're far from them now..."
Lily mutters.

"Thanks, Crystal. You saved me there."
Ai thanks her straightly.
"Well, I'm off."
He says as he gets off the car.

"Wait!"
Lily unconsciously grabbed his
hand before he could totally get off.
"(What am I doing?! M-My heart.. it's
  pounding like crazy...)"

"What is it?"
Ai stares at her.

"Um.. I still haven't introduced myself
  properly. Um.. I'm Crystal!" She forces
a fake smile to hide her nervousness.

"Hmm.." Ai stares at her as if he was
inspecting her. "You're shivering."
He points out as he noticed her gritting
her teeth because of her nervousness.
"Here." Ai took off his coat and threw it
on Crystal's back. "I'm Ai Mikaze."

"A-Ai..." She no longer knows what to
say. "Lily.." She muttered accidentally.

"Lily?"

--------

-------------------

---------------------------

His mind suddenly went blank like how
a television lost its signal. Series of blurred
images and scenes flashed in his mind.

"Ai-kun!"

"Ai-kun~!"

"Ai-kuun!"

"I love you!"

"Who's that?"
Ai holds his head with
both his hands.

"What's the matter?"
Lily asked.

"Huh?" Ai wondered.
"Oh. Right." Finally, he
remembered his situation.
He gets out of the car and shuts
it. But then, he knocked on the window.

"Hm?" Lily wondered and
opened the window for him.
"Did you forget something? Wait, are you
  sure I can keep your coat---" she was
cut off by Ai.

"What does "I love you" mean?"
Ai asked her out of the blue.

"Eh?"
She was utterly surprised by his question.
Her face goes blank.
"...Sorry but, I don't know either..."
She closes the window as she remembers
that she is no longer allowed to see him or
communicate with him. She held back the
tears as she continues to drive, ignoring her
phone that kept ringing.

Meanwhile...

"She didn't come after all..."
Aine said calmly as he still remained
in the restaurant.

Hours have passed and Lily had completely
forgotten to show up. Although Aine decided to
let it slip.

Back in Shining Agency...

"Love.. huh...?"
Ai mutters as he tries his best to
research the meaning.

While blurred memories keep
rushing in his mind. Is it possible
for him to remember her again?

Chapter 29
"Memories & Visions"