Aikatsu Crescent! BRIGHTEST☆STARS || アイカツクレセント！Season 3

「Phase 130」Song For You

Mai sorted through the books on the shelf, dust gently lining her fingers. From the origins of the system to future planned advancements, here everything she needed to know about the system was listed.

Well, nearly everything.

She still had no clue about what exactly was happening with the system nowadays. All the accounts she had heard from new idols sounded so different to her own experiences and the readings the system gave were certainly different to the ones from just a few months ago. But no matter how much Mai tried to look into it... she still had very little to even consider as a possibility. But arguably the most frustrating aspect of all was how little the others cared. Hiyori seemed at least somewhat concerned and Mai could believe that she, as an adult, was just better at handling the stress.

Mai looked over to Akemi, who was typing on a laptop with a serious expression.

Back when Mai first arrived back in Japan, she had organised a meeting with Akemi to discuss everything. After all, she seemed at least somewhat in the know. Whilst that meeting led to many interesting events occurring, in the end, Akemi just gave a vague 'We're aware. Just trust us.' When Mai asked other adults in the workplace they just shared the same sentiment as Akemi did, with varying degrees of politeness.

Maybe Mai should just trust them. As an engineer in training, she knew it was the smartest idea.

But as an idol...

...She couldn't bring herself to.

Something was wrong. Aside from Akemi, who had made her official debut on the stable Japanese system during this period of uncertainty and wouldn't know otherwise, none of the others working in their branch had been an idol. That was a large part of why Mai had gotten the job in the first place - she was there to give an idol's perspective on the system. If they hadn't used the system and been surrounded by people who used it every day, maybe they just wouldn't notice the changes. Maybe they'd think something like this was better.

...Maybe it was.

Mai honestly just... wasn't sure.

She sighed. That had happened at the worst time possible. Maybe she would have been able to sway the situation more if it hadn't.

"Amamiya-san!"

Mai jumped, nearly dropping the book she was holding but quickly catching it at the last second. She turned to her coworker, who was standing at the door.

"Someone's outside waiting for you. They want to talk."

Mai's eyes widened slightly but she gave a polite smile and placed the book back where it belonged.

Who could it be? It was very rare for someone like her or Akemi to be called out (though she had noticed Akemi being talked to more often lately) due to their age and status as 'idols who perform on an unfinished version of the system overseas to advertise.' Even as Mai walked over, she could hear others whispering about her.

"You know, Amamiya-san sure is cute. I'm not surprised she has so many fans."

"We're pretty lucky we managed to get the top idol to advertise for us."

"I just hope she stops going on about how worried she is all the time. Just leave all the complicated stuff to the adults and be cute, y'know?"

Mai looked to the floor. She and Akemi usually weren't taken seriously by their coworkers. They were cute and useful and... not much else.

She bit her lip.

She had to endure it. Some less than nice coworkers were worth it if it meant she got to be part of an Aikatsu Engineer team. Besides, she had Hiyori. And Akemi wasn't the worst either, just a bit cold, Mai had decided.