While Hide was stirring up storms across the Eurasian continent in the UK, a smaller tempest was beginning to brew within Japan.
In a luxury apartment located in the heart of Tokyo.
—Flutter! Flutter!
A stack of papers on the table slid over, making an unpleasant rustling sound.
The room belonged to a girl, but it was a total disaster.
There were traces suggesting it might have once been pleasant and cute, fitting for a girl of her age, but now dust gathered in every corner, and the place was filthy.
Instruments lay scattered across the floor alongside papers that had lost their value, drifting like fallen leaves. It was hard to find a place to step; if not for the bed sitting in the middle of the room, one might doubt if a human actually lived there.
And on that bed, a girl with purple hair was fast asleep, desperately catching up on lost rest.
—Ring! Ring!
"You damn Star!!! Dammit!! I'm coming to pick you up right now, so get ready to head to the airport immediately!"
The one waking the girl from her nap was Saito Ichigo, her legal father and the CEO of Strawberry Productions.
"Sorry! President Ichigo! Today is Ai's songwriting day, so if it's personal business, I really can't! ~☆"
The girl felt a pang of resentment toward her father for ruining her rare nap. She staggered toward the chair in front of the computer, where a MIDI program was already running.
What caught her eye was her own reflection on a second monitor that hadn't been turned off.
Her hair was a tangled mess from the hours spent composing, and her skin looked parched and dry, unbefitting of her youth. In her purple eyes, the asterism-shaped stars that usually brimmed with life were now weighed down by deep exhaustion.
If she chose to smile, she could masterfully project the aura of a 'Star' suitable for her age, but currently, her face was devoid of all expression.
"Was the song I was working on last night... this one?"
—Creak, creak.
Having found the file she had spent all night crafting, the girl leaned toward the monitor, a habit she had developed recently.
Ai has to work a little harder... or else we won't even make it to America, let alone the Billboard charts...
Stripping away the light of her artificial performance, B-Komachi was beginning to race faster toward the place where Enfants Terribles resided.
And the reason that was even possible was because, since that specific night, Ai's songwriting talent—which had previously only shown glimpses of potential—had completely blossomed.
—Click, click.
Organizing her thoughts, she gripped the mouse and began navigating the now-familiar software. The lyrics were already finished.
All that remained was to weave a melody that suited the words. As she began to sculpt the track, she drew upon the experiences of her own life. Since B-Komachi was an idol group and not a rock band, she had to construct the music using a wider variety of digital instruments. For a girl who had been exposed to various sounds from a very young age, this was a simple task.
How should she structure the chord progression? She had heard that most singers use so-called 'Money Chords' without a second thought, but the girl had no desire to use such things.
Her life was not some cliché that could be contained within such predictable progressions. Instead of Money Chords, she progressed the track with the strange notes and rhythms that surfaced in her mind.
'Ab - G - Gb - F'
Music must be simple.
That was the composition philosophy she had learned from her lover.
However, unlike her lover, the girl was inclined to actively use various sound sources and effects.
'Maybe this song would be fine with just an acoustic guitar...?'
She finished the first draft of the composition and listened to the track. It wasn't bad, but the sound felt hollow in certain places.
After a moment of contemplation, she added drum samples via the MIDI program, injecting a sense of impact into the track. The occasional heavy thud of the kick drum added a rhythmic interest to the song.
She didn't stop there. She delicately layered electronic synths throughout the gaps.
After completing this second round of work, she listened to the song again. After listening for a long time, the girl nodded her head, a satisfied smile playing on her lips.
'What should I call the song...?'
The girl often had a high opinion of her own naming sense, but objectively speaking, her taste in titles was usually bizarre.
Because of that, the titles of her songs were often decided by others, but this time, she didn't want that to happen.
A song containing her own life, titled by someone else? For someone who had developed a certain pride as a composer, that was unacceptable.
"Ah! This will do~☆"
Idol (アイドル).
That was the name she gave to her newly completed masterpiece.
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