Back in present day, Kanami and Chinen were back at the front of the agency building. 

"AiBEST Agency? Is that what it's really called?" Kanami did not find the name too convincing. The reception area was quite small - it consisted of a potted tree, two couches, a glass coffee table and the counter where the receptionist sat. Kanami approached the table. 

"Excuse me, but is there an idol manager named Hikaru that works here?"

"Yaotome-san? Do you have an appointment with him?" The receptionist asked. 

"Well it seems like he does work here." Chinen whispered into Kanami's ear. Kanami focused her attention back to the receptionist. "No but I'm looking for him. I'm Mitsuharu Kanami."

The receptionist brightened up. "Oh Mitsuharu-san! I'll call up Yaotome-san right away." She proceeded to press a few buttons on her phone. "He'll be out shortly."

The two of them sat down on the couch. "The receptionist knows my name?" Kanami questioned quietly to Chinen. 

"That seems strange." Chinen rubbed his chin. HIkaru appeared through the door that was just opened from the behind the reception counter. 

"Kanami! Great you came back on your own...I was worried that I had to go fetch you." Hikaru exclaimed.

"That's you're manager?!" Chinen exclaimed. "He doesn't seem that much older than us." Hikaru seemed to have ignored the comment. "Come on Kanami, let's get to work. We have a busy schedule tonight."

"Wait what schedule?" Kanami did not move from her spot. 

Hikaru looked surprised. "We talked about this yesterday after the photoshoot!"

"What photoshoot?!" Onlookers could say that both parties were just as confused. "I don't remember anything from last night! What happened?" Kanami showed Hikaru the bracelet. "After you guys put this on me I had no idea what happened to me!" 

"EH!" Hikaru took out his phone. "I heard that it could have been a side effect from the president..."

"Tell us!" Chinen frowned. 

"I'll be technical here then." Hikaru began. "The bracelet can emit sparks of electricity that travels through your nerves. These sparks don't harm you though, it's just used to activate certain muscles like your throat and legs to allow them to be more relaxed. Can't dance? The bracelet can fix that. Can't sing? The bracelet can fix that...to a certain extent of course."

That would explain why Kanami's legs were so tired that night. "The side effect...?"

"Right, there are some side effects." Hikaru continued. "It could send some other signals the brain (since this is our first time trying this out). So memory loss when deactivating the bracelet is possible." 

"Aren't you guys just manipulating Kanami then?" Chinen was not happy with this. 

"She already signed a contract with the company." Hikaru shrugged. "From a legal point there's nothing wrong with what we're doing since the contract listed these terms. And since this bracelet is new in the realm of technology, it's hard to prove that she wasn't signing the contract by her own will."

The conversation was cut short when the door slowly opened and a shadow tried to quietly walk pass the three. Of course as a manager, Hikaru would be able to detect such sneaky movements. "Inoo-kun, it's okay that you're late this time. We haven't started recording yet."

"Hehe you never stop amazing me, Hikaru-san." Inoo stopped crawling on the floor and stood up. "Sorry, I forgot my manuscripts for today's session at school so I had to head back to pick them up."

"Maybe you should just keep a copy here." Hikaru patted Inoo on the shoulder. Inoo gave an apologetic laugh and then noticed Kanami. "Are you-?"

Hikaru quickly brightened up. "Introductions! My favorite!" (Inoo had an urge to facepalm right there but eventually refrained from doing so) "Kanami, meet Inno Kei, the pianist slash keyboard of our band. Inoo-kun, this is Mitsuharu Kanami, our newest idol!"

"Yoroshiku onegaishimasu." Inoo held out a hand. "I'll be looking forward to working on the new song with you!"

"...new song?" Kanami hesitated but shook his hand. 

"Today's work is on the new song you're going to release." Hikaru explained. "There's not much time left since we talked for this long." Out popped the phone and he pressed the button and Kanami felt the same burning feeling as last time.

Chinen held Kanami by her arms. "Are you okay Nami?" 

"Oh yeah, I'm totally fine!" Kanami's voice was suddenly more peppy. "So are we recording or what?"

Chinen faced Hikaru. "Did you brainwash her?"

"I hope not!" Hikaru knocked on Kanami's head. "It shouldn't work that way...otherwise we'd have mindless slaves with no personality and that's not what we're looking for."

"I'm fine Chii." Idol-Kanami reassured. "I'll be back home soon after recording. I might not remember anything again though."

Chinen had no choice but to leave since there was really nothing he could do. He really wanted to help Kanami, but he had to do it some other way. At that last moment, Kanami's eyes looked as if she was willing to become an idol. 

---

By the end of the week Kanami was exhausted. 

"So from what I've heard I only recorded two songs and there are two more to go." Kanami told Chinen with a quiet voice. "How they even managed to make me produce a proper tone surprises me."

Chinen sat down beside Kanami. "Why are you still doing this?"

Kanami sighed. "Remember yesterday? Manager-san was outside the school and waiting for me! At least he did tell me that I don't have any activities today so we can hang out."

"You look way too tired to hang out." Chinen shook his head. "Come on, let's go back home and rest." Kanami could not help but agree with Chinen.

On the way out, they saw a guy staring intently at the school's name plaque. He had an electric guitar case over his shoulders and held a small slip of paper in his hand. He gave a smirk to himself before walking away.