Desires

A couple minutes later, they pulled up outside the dorms and said goodbye to Aika's parents before heading back to their dorm. Maple-leaf academy's policy was that graduated students had to stay the night on the day of their graduation. No one actually knew why, but Jordan Maple insisted on it, so they all agreed anyway.

When they were back in the room and fully alone for the first time in several hours, Aika guided Aria over to her bed and sat down next to her before preparing to interrogate her friend on what happened.

Before she was able to begin questioning her, Aria spoke up on her own. "You want to know what happened, right?"

Aika was slightly surprised but nodded quickly before the girl could change her mind. After she saw Aika nod Aria told her the entire story of what happened while she went off to the bathroom, even including the details from when she was younger. By the end of the story, Aika's originally calm face had shifted back to the earlier fury.

"Your father disowned you?"

"Yes... he's never liked me."

"Well, you're better off without those scum anyway..." Aika spoke without thinking and immediately covered her mouth with her hand, wishing she could take back what she had said.

Unexpectedly for her, Aria nodded several moments after and toyed with her mother's necklace. "I just wish I was never related to them in the first place." She had never expected this to be how her graduation went, but she was surprisingly not feeling that sad anymore. All she felt now was a desire to show the world how awful her family was.

"I don't know what to change my last name to now, though... They don't want any connection with me and I don't want any with them."

"Don't you know your mother's name?"

Aria hesitated for a minute before nodding in understanding and playing with her necklace more. If she changed her last name she could get justice for the both of them and not be related to those scum. Even though she had no proof or any thoughts of what they might have done, she was convinced that a family who treated her so poorly must of been terrible to her mother as well.

"What am I going to do now, though?" Despite her new desire to ruin the Song family, Aria had only just graduated from Maple-leaf Academy and couldn't directly challenge such a huge company.

Understanding what Aria was thinking, Aika hesitated and opened her mouth to speak several times before finally gaining the confidence to say what she was going to. "Become an idol with me."

"What?"

"Become an idol with me, Aria! The fame will let you show the world exactly who they really are."

Instantly, Aria shook her head in denial. She wanted to do something to show people what her family was truly like, but she could never become an idol. Aria couldn't even speak to her old roommates, not to mention a huge crowd of people, and she didn't believe she had the figure to do so either.

"I can't..."

"Why not? It's been my dream ever since I was a little girl back in Japan. The fame, the glowing lights."

"I'm not idol material... I'd just drag you down."

Hearing what she said, Aika fell deep in thought. Although she didn't agree that Aria wasn't idol material, she knew that she wouldn't be able to change her mind. However, after several moments of thought, she remembered something she had heard the other day and had an idea of how to convince her to at least be part of show business.

"I heard something recently... something about Emma Song wanting to become an idol at Immortal Legends or even Golden Stars."

When she heard this, Aria's head snapped up and looked at Aika before she shook her head again. "Even if I want to, I can't. I've spent my entire life being taught how to be in business, I didn't even know idols existed until 2 years ago..."

After several moments and hesitating multiple times, Aika spoke quietly. "How about... we start a company together and... you manage me?"

Aria blinked several times and then once the meaning behind Aika's words hit her, she slowly nodded her head. Admittedly, she had been interested in idols ever since moving to B City and learning what they were, but she hadn't seen any way she could enter the field without giving up on everything she'd spent her life learning.

"Okay... but, do you have any money for your half of the costs to start one? ...and I don't want to borrow from your parents."

Aika nodded in agreement and smiled happily, she had thought it would take a lot more convincing to get Aria to agree to do this with her. "I don't either! There's a competition with a huge prize soon, though... so I guess I just need to go win that."