A Pinch!

Me and the girls have been working quite a lot. Doing odd jobs here and there, expanding their social media presence, and also doing some new video contents to put on their video channel. And things seem to be working quite well. More fans started pouring in, and we even got some fan-letters mailed to us occasionally.

The new deal with the radio station proves to be quite nice, they paid us royalties and that made us quite a bit self-sufficient when it comes to our economy. But even then, we still need to deliver for the fans and for the competition. Hopefully we can attract some sponsors along the way. I made my way to the main office room and to my surprise the mood in the room is quite tense.

"W-What's up?" I asked nervously.

"Producer, I'm sorry!" Hanayo said to me and bowed her head. She showed me her phone screen, "I was mistaken about the qualifications date! It will happen three weeks from now, not a month!"

Crap.

Hanayo started to sob and cry, I can't bring myself to look at her like that. "I-It's my fault..."

"O-Okay, calm down. I'll think about it, all right?"

I looked around the room and a the girls are in a similar state of panic. They're pretty much scrambling to get a lot of things done and started talking about their upcoming schedule, which are most likely going to get cancelled.

...

I can't think clearly here.

I walked outside and stepped into a small room. The room itself is made to be a break room, but the renovation isn't really finished yet; so there's only a few folding chairs here as well as a small coffee table. I sat down and held my head with both of my hands. "Damn..."

The anxiety is starting to get its way onto me. Can I do it? Will this be the end? What if I fail? I should've double-checked things. These are all my faults.

A lot of thoughts started popping in my head, but before it can get more hold on me, a knock came from the door. "Producer?" The person came in and made her way to a seat besides me.

Honoka had a look of worry on her face.

"Kousaka, I'm sorry. I'm afraid that..."

She brought her index finger to my face. "Shh. It's not your fault. We're in this together, so you should get yourself together, kay? Besides if we didn't make it this year, there will always be next year."

"But that's the thing... I don't to delay your career just because of my own mistake."

"Don't be! We're already lucky to have a producer like you!" Honoka smiled before she went and hold my hand to reassure me. But I can clearly see that she's doing it to make me feel better. When she held my hand, I was quite surprised, but I can feel her hands shaking in nervousness.

Even though she herself is in panic, she still made her way to reassure me.

I realized how stupid I am and slapped my own two cheeks. "P-Producer?!"

"Sorry, Kousaka. Can you gather the others? I want to say something."

Honoka beamed a smile and nodded, "Yes!"

The girls gathered up, Hanayo is still recovering from her cries and the others stopped their work momentarily.

"Right now we have three weeks left to make a song, get the choreography, and the costumes. This will be a tough and busy three weeks ahead of us."

"I-I'm sorry..." Hanayo muttered under her breath. "It's my fault too. I didn't double check the date you gave me."

I looked at Umi and Maki. "Sonoda and Nishikino. What about the songwriting?"

"Fortunately I already made some lyrics and I've been working with Maki to compose the song at the same time." Umi said. "Since the date for the qualification is Valentine's day, We're already working to make a romance-themed song, preferably sort of a 'first-love' kind of theme." Maki continued.

That's right, the qualification date coincides with Valentine's day. We may be able to use it to our advantage. "Good, keep at it."

I then looked at Eli. "Ayase. If possible, I want you to work together with both Sonoda and Nishikino to make the choreography early on. If not possible, then don't **** yourself."

Eli nodded and smiled, "Don't worry, we already talked about it."

"Wait. What about our schedule for the next few weeks? We already booked quite a few, didn't we?" Nico exclaimed and looked at the schedule board.

"I know. I'm gonna contact all of them and try to negotiate. Best case scenario, they will allow us to postpone the date. Worst case? They'll cancel it."

My answer satisfied Nico before I looked towards Kotori. "We'll need those costumes ready as soon as possible. Can you do it, Minami?"

"Leave it to me! I'll do my best!"

Nozomi raised her hand, "We also need a stage, don't we? Do you have a place in mind?"