Press
At the sound of violin chords, Haruki entered the stage with a spin in the air, forgetting the chill in his stomach.
His sequined jacket with fringe on the sleeves resembled wings and reflected the multicolored lights. The spotlights followed the dancer across the stage in his spins.
Haruki's movements had the lightness of birds, and the choreography that reproduced the angles of birds in flight made it look like Haruki flew on stage with the growing melody of violins!
Haruki saw several holograms filling the stage, with each jump, with each spin he performed, another copy of himself appeared.
Each hologram repeated the part of the choreography that had given it life, and then stopped like a statue in the final pose of the movement's execution and remained static for a while, dancing again and so they filled the stage. 'Whoa! Cool!' Haruki had envisioned this effect to record a clip, which would be recorded if there was a good acceptance of the song by the public. But in his plans, his bandmates would be the ones doing this effect, not holograms of himself. The singer was intrigued by how something that was only talked about with his band, was performed there. With no time to elaborate on this thought further, Haruki refocused on his show and sought out his VIP viewer in the audience.
Facing the stage, Saito watched the performance, sitting at a table next to the stage, and having a drink.
Haruki stopped the dance suddenly, as his copies did, in a pose of salute, in the center of the stage when the violin chords ended. Now the second part started with the sound of electric guitars.
The pedestal with the microphone emerged from the ground, and the singer waited for the tempo to enter with his melodic voice, reciting in the frantic rap rhythm.
This was the song chosen to be the flagship of Caption-Z for its strong and impactful lyrics. He spoke of the strength needed to overcome obstacles.
Haruki went back to dancing, while still singing. Again the rhythm had changed, to a soft, romantic melody telling what needed to be done to make the impossible possible for men, goodwill.
And he ended by talking about the reward for reaching the top, touching the face of God. And Haruki chose this song to open the show for Saito because he was a climber, the singer wanted to win the man's attention in his artistic performance, not just because they were friends.
The music of the background instruments ended, then and an interval in silence Haruki made the last vocal chord filling the venue with his sweet voice and the sound of the guitars came back finishing the song.
Saito gave him a standing ovation.
The lights went out and Haruki ran back to the dressing room. The singer had two more songs to sing. But before he had to change the costume, Ken was waiting for him to help with the change.
Haruki drank water sitting and with one leg raised for Ken to buckle the long boot when the door opened.
The smiling singer looked at the visitor, hoping to see Saito.
But the smile froze on his face.
To his despair, Daisuke came in with a camcorder on. He wore a phosphorescent orange vest written PRESS.
'I'm screwed!'
Haruki knew he would be blackmailed before the influencer even extorted him.
"Good evening Takeda Haruki-san, can you tell us how it feels to make a performance with the very latest graphics system and sound?" The influencer behaved professionally, as a reporter in a normal coverage of an event,
'Is he just working as a freelancer? Aff, I'm paranoid. ' the singer realized with a discreet sigh of relief.
"Good evening, Daisuke-san! It is different and challenging. It's… mind-blowing to see yourself being cloned on stage. And have them to perform as real persons, exactly how the choreography was envisioned by the choreographer. It was never performed in public before! So far I'm enjoying it, and I hope the public is enjoying it as much as I do," the singer answered the question in the nicest way he can. After all, the digital influencer was only working to get his diamonds too, 'I should have opted for the show to be hidden from job openings at TMD,' he regretted it, though.
"This is Takeda Haruki, the star of this night in Neona. Thank you." Daisuke finished off the camera, taking it off his shoulder. And he looked at Haruki, who was getting ready to return to the stage. Haruki smiled at him and asked,
"Cool! Nice work, Daisuke, are you going to watch the end of the show?"
"Takeda-san, I'm going to keep that chip," the influencer took the camera's memory, showed it to the singer, and put it in his vest pocket.
Haruki felt that something bad was coming, Daisuke had formally called him.
"I am not a man to advise anyone. So I'm just going to keep my mouth shut and keep it. " The influencer kept the memory chip with the footage.
"But maybe I will sell it to anyone who is interested." Daisuke picked up the camera again and left the dressing room without answering the question.
Haruki raised his hands to his hair, closing his eyes in frustration.
'GRR, that asshole caught me!' Releasing the air trapped in his lungs, Haruki screamed in anger at being stupid, "Ahhh!"
Haruki had to drink something much stronger than water to relax a little and return to the stage. Luckily, this song was more of a dance move, with a repetitive chorus than the first one with more elaborated lyrics. It was about a guy who wants to impress everyone and show that he was cool and such. A sticky melody with a lot of dancing. But it also had to do with the story that Saito told about himself.
Haruki emptied his mind and went back to his audience.
******
Upon returning to the dressing room this time, Haruki wondered if he should send a proposal to Daisuke, making an offer for the memory card or just ignoring the shameless dirty blackmail.
Too anxious for his own good, Haruki opted for the first alternative.
.
TH: Yamada-san, I can pay 50,000 diamonds for the chip.
.
Haruki offered half the diamonds he had earned from the show. The answer came next, asking for 90% of the diamonds.
.
YD: I'm sorry Takeda-san, but I need 90,000 diamonds.
.
"GRR Daisuke you greedy bastard!" the singer wanted to strangle Daisuke, but typed instead,
.
TH: Okay, I'll buy it.
.
Haruki put things in order 1) buy the chip; 2) destroy the memory card; 3) finish the show; 4) take revenge on Daisuke. He accessed the smartwatch.
...
Takeda Haruki-ATHLETE
[SHOP] (10038) OPEN
Yamada Daisuke-ARTIST (1) OPEN
(CHIP 90,000 DIAMONDS) BUY
...
[New System Messages:]
Takeda Haruki purchased 1 new item!
...
[New System Messages:]
Takeda Haruki [10, 344 DIAMONDS IN ACCOUNT]
...
'I ran out of diamonds to buy a car. Again,' he concluded when he saw his new balance.
And he didn't even want to look at his current state, because he felt terrible, tired, and in a bad mood. But the show cannot stop, nor can the audience see his real state of mind.
The long years of hard training taught him to represent being happy and to use makeup and clothes to look beautiful. The last costume was the sexiest of the three, and the one with the least clothes.
Haruki returned to the stage for the end of the show. In this song he would open the pressure button shirt exposing the abdomen, to do a fan service in the middle of the song until the end it was sensual, with moans and whispered words. The lyrics were the silliest of Caption-Z' repertoire, about a guy who wants to see his girl excited.
Haruki made faces and mouths, provocative movements that ended with him opening his shirt with a thug making the buttons pop. To his despair, and the last straw, was when Jun came out of the kitchen in an apron, carrying a bucket of drinks.
And saw Haruki on the stage, half-naked.
"I'm dead! I'm totally dead…!"