a/n: hey guys im so deeply sorry for the long wait! this is super short too so im soooooo sorry and its probably even not that great of a chapter but i do hope you will forgive me! it will get better i promise! here it is!

Ayumi walked out of Kisaragi at an odd pace. She was dumbfounded and confused as she made her way off of campus. It was earlier that day when a boy by the name of Yoshiki Kishinuma had texted her to meet him at his recording studio and promptly texted again to give her the address. Yoshiki had wanted to meet up with Ayumi to discuss plans for the upcoming album cover.

All of this information confused Ayumi. Was she really going to do this? Was this really what Kishinuma wanted? Well, whatever. She had already started walking over to his recording studio with the intention of rejecting his kind offer. She knew if she told Mayu about her decision she would be furious, but Ayumi sensed some weird vibes from the singer when first meeting him. Something she couldn't quite detect... it was as if just by meeting this boy she knew her life would change drastically. And Ayumi didn't want change. She was perfectly happy as she was... or so she thought.

Ayumi continued to walk the street getting closer to her location deep in thought. Alas, she was not paying close attention to her surroundings, but giving more attention the ground she walked upon, for she had bumped into somebody in her path.

"Uhm, Shinozaki-san?" the person Ayumi had bumped into said.

Ayumi looked up, revealing said person to be...Satoshi Mochida?

"M-Mochida-kun!" Ayumi stammered, holding her school bag which she almost dropped awkwardly. "S-sorry about that!"

"Shinozaki-san..." Satoshi started, a bit confused. "Are you... uhm... I'm sorry."

Ayumi tilted her head, wondering what Satoshi was trying to say.

He continued, "I'm sorry, but are you following me?"

Ayumi looked at him with an odd expression, wondering what on earth he was talking about.

"What? No!" she answered hurriedly so she wouldn't look suspicious. She looked suspicious anyway.

"Oh, well..." Satoshi began as he scractched his head with his hand. "Nobody really lives this way, and I saw that you were walking a bit slowly behind me... So I thought you were stal... following me. Sorry!" He looked a bit apologetic and smiled.

Ayumi's heart skipped a beat. Satoshi Mochida was so cute... his smile could kill. She decided to fully explain to Satoshi where she was going.

"Ah, well you see! You know that Yoshiki Kishinuma guy? The really, really popular one that performed near here the other day?"

Satoshi had a quizzical face and slowly began to nod.

"Well he actually wants to hire me to replace his old album cover artist! So I'm on my way over to his recording studio now! Crazy, huh?"

Ayumi laughed and looked to Satoshi in search of a similar response but all she found was his quizzical expression deepen into concern. She began to sweat nervously, wondering if she did or say anything bad. Maybe he just couldn't believe her?

"Yoshiki... did what?!" Satoshi exclaimed, in an unfamiliar angry voice Ayumi had never heard before.

She stepped back, wondering what was going on. Did he just use Kishinuma's first name? Did he know him? Wait, what? ?

Satoshi kicked the brick wall beside them on the street, yelling. "I can't believe he did that! We paid so much for that guy! I mean no offense to you Shinozaki san but..."

Ayumi stepped back and smiled awkwardly a bit. "Excuse me? Uh, Mochida-kun?"

"I'm sorry, Shinozaki san, I should explain," he said calming down. "I'm Yoshiki Kishinuma's manager."