Miu stared at the pastry in her hand for a mont longer before setting it down on the table. The cheerful expression she had been wearing slowly faded.
"...I know what you’re thinking," she said softly.
Aren didn’t interrupt.
Miu leaned back against the couch, letting out a small breath.
"I’ve already tried everything else," she continued. "Doctors, therapists, vocal specialists... even so underground mystics."
Luna blinked slightly at that.
"None of them could figure it out," Miu said.
Her gaze drifted down toward her hands.
"But the voices kept getting louder."
...
"So yeah," she continued with a faint, almost helpless shrug. "Scheduling the concert was... kind of my last option."
Aren frowned.
"Your last option?"
She nodded slowly.
"When I’m on stage, everything feels normal for a while," she admitted. "The lights, the music, the routine... it’s familiar."
Her fingers tightened slightly.
"So I thought... maybe if I just follow the routine, go through the concert like usual..."
She forced a small smile.
"...maybe the problem will just go away."
Before Aren could respond, she raised a hand.
"I know," she said imdiately. "It’s reckless."
Her eyes flicked up toward him.
"That’s also why I hired you," Miu exhaled softly. "If sothing goes wrong again..."
Luna glanced between the two of them, unsure what to say. Aren, however, exhaled quietly and stood up.
"Alright," he said.
Miu blinked.
"...That’s it?"
"For now."
He quickly grabbed the empty box of pastries and threw it into the trash before turning around. "You said the concert is tomorrow?"
Miu nodded slowly.
"Then we should head to the venue and check it first."
Her brows lifted slightly. "You want to go tonight?"
"Better than walking in blind tomorrow."
Aren paused briefly before pulling out his phone.
"And just in case," he added, scrolling through his contacts, "I’m calling soone."
Miu tilted her head.
"A friend?"
"Backup."
He stepped into his room as the call connected. Ten minutes later, a loud knock echoed through the apartnt door.
Aren opened the door. Daniel stood outside, jacket half-zipped and hair slightly ssy, looking like he had been dragged out of bed against his will.
"You better have a good reason for dragging out—"
His sentence stopped. Daniel leaned slightly to the side, peering past Aren into the apartnt. His eyes landed on Luna first. Then his gaze drifted further into the room before stopping on the couch.
"...Hold on."
Daniel stepped inside slowly, as if approaching so rare museum artifact. His finger lifted.
"...Is that Miu Harmonia?"
Aren didn’t answer. Daniel’s eyes flicked back and forth between the white-haired freshman beauty and the literally idol goddess before...
"YOU’RE ROOMING WITH LUNA?!"
Luna flinched.
"And you’ve got MIU HARMONIA IN YOUR HOUSE?!" he continued, voice rising with each word.
"It’s not like that—" Aren tried to answer, but Daniel cut him off by grabbing Aren by the shoulders, shaking him in disbelief.
"Junior," he said dramatically, "I didn’t know you had ga like that."
Before Aren could react, Daniel pulled him closer and leaned in, lowering his voice like he was about to reveal so profound wisdom.
"Hey, Aren, real talk. It’s not good to two-ti, you know," he said it like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Trust , I’ve done it before. It’s not worth the hassle."
Aren stared at him for a second before asking loudly.
"Are you done?"
He stepped aside slightly and gestured between the two.
"Daniel, Miu," he said flatly. "Miu, Daniel. Let’s get along."
Daniel didn’t even wait a second. He imdiately sprinted across the room toward the couch.
"Miss Miu!" he said, practically sliding to a stop in front of her. "Huge fan. Absolutely massive fan."
Miu blinked at the sudden enthusiasm before breaking into a bright smile.
"Oh! Hi!"
Daniel was already pulling out his phone.
"Can I get a picture?"
"Of course!" Miu replied cheerfully, scooting a little closer. Daniel leaned in while holding up his phone.
Click!
He looked at the picture for half a second. "Perfect."
Then imdiately started typing on his screen.
Aren watched silently.
"...You’re posting that right now, aren’t you?"
Miu leaned up to look at his phone.
"Hey!" she yelled out. "At least add so filters and stickers!"
"Right!" Daniel replied enthusiastically. "You’re a genius, Miss Miu!"
"Hehe."
Aren ran a hand down his face as he witnessed the entire scene. It didn’t help that Luna was staring at him with the ’you sure this is a good idea?’ look.
"Birds of a feather really flock together," he muttered.
"She’s the one who put out the commission," Aren said as they were both still giggling at the pictures.
"..mission?"
"The Urban Hunting one."
Aren gestured toward Miu, who was now happily nibbling on whatever snacks Luna had on hand.
Daniel’s eyes slowly widened.
"...Wait."
He pointed at her.
"You an that weird personal bodyguard job?"
"Yes."
Daniel frowned as the mory finally clicked into place.
"I’m actually more surprised that you didn’t put the pieces in place sooner," Aren sighed.
Miu tilted her head curiously. "...Was I supposed to be a secret?"
Daniel waved his hands quickly. "No, no! I just didn’t expect the client to actually be you."
He turned back toward Aren.
"So," he said slowly, "what exactly are we dealing with here?"
Aren briefly ran Daniel through the situation.
The voices Miu had been hearing, the incident at the recording booth, and the shockwave that had followed when her singing reached its peak. He ntioned the underground awakening as well, along with the lack of any official docuntation tied to her Bloodline.
Daniel listened quietly this ti, the earlier joking completely gone.
When Aren finished, he leaned back slightly and folded his arms.
"...That’s weird," Daniel muttered.
"Hard to say with just one incident," he finally said. "We’d need to see it happen again to be sure."
Daniel glanced at Aren for a mont longer, thinking. Then he suddenly snapped his fingers.
"Well... there is one easy way to test it."
Aren already didn’t like the sound of that. Daniel pointed directly at the tal band wrapped around Aren’s wrist.
"Take off the dampener."
"Let her borrow it for the concert," he added casually. "If it’s just a misfire, the dampener should stabilize her channels imdiately."
Miu blinked.
"...That’s a thing?"
"Pretty effective one too," Daniel said with a shrug. "Think of it like putting a limiter on an engine."
Aren’s expression didn’t change.
"Not happening."
"Junior, co on—"
"No."
The answer ca imdiately. Daniel looked at him for a mont before shaking his head.
"Alright, alright. Was worth suggesting."
He pushed himself off the wall.
"In that case," he added, stretching his arms slightly, "there’s only one thing left to do."
Aren grabbed his coat.
"The venue."
If the problem was tied to more than her voice, and the concert itself—
Then that was where the answers would be.
User Comments
0 comments from readers