A young man leaned back in a chair, his eyes staring dully at the dark ceiling above him for a few moments before shifting back to the screen before him.

Displayed on the monitor was a news article that he'd already read enough times to have memorized. A few small video artifacts cluttered up parts of the screen, all paused on their starting frames.

"There's nothing here."

In a practiced motion, Elric closed out of the tab, and the screen switched to an open group chat. Messages scrolled past as quickly as he could read, and he straightened up in his chair as he read the chat.

Just as he started to read the conversation history, a small speaker to his side blinked as the song changed. Just like the previous one that had been quietly playing in the background of his browsing, this one was a pop song as well.

Elric switched over to his music tab, his eyes wandering down to the title of the new song.

-Today Is The Day-

Alha Nulstaya- WStar Talent Agency

Click!

Elric's keyboard shook as he forcefully pressed down on the button to skip, and the Agency name that his eyes had locked onto disappeared.

~

The snow will fall again,-

~

A smooth, beautiful voice spread out from Elric's speaker as the next song started, and he clenched his eyes shut before stopping the song and closing the music tab altogether. 

After wiping at his face a few times with his arm, the young man went back to reading the group chat. 

–General Chat–

CheifSturgeon: Milky just dropped new pics in #Lambsauce(R18), I would comment further, but it's really nothing that odd, knowing him.

The Milkman Delivers: @Cheifsturgeon Are you calling me weird?

CheifSturgeon: @TheMilkmanDelivers Yes.

WhaleoftheWest: Guys, Milky is on to something. Hold on, I'm going to type something out.

WhaleoftheWest: West's Theorem of Multiple Wives:

… (Click to expand).

-

Elric shook his head as he placed his fingers on the keyboard and started refuting the harem advocator. He'd talked with West enough to know that the dude was single, and had even come to complain regularly about being rejected. 

He couldn't even get a single girlfriend, but still always talked big about having multiple. 

Just as Elric finished typing out a response and hit send, a faint knocking noise sounded from somewhere outside of his room. After a couple of seconds, he heard the noise again.

"Someone at the door… dad's probably too caught up in his work to hear them."

With a sigh, Elric pushed himself up from his chair and made his way out to the front door of the house. He stretched his jaw as he walked, preparing to tell off yet another solicitor.

Pulling open the door, he started speaking before he even looked outside.

"I don't care what brand of knives you're selling, I'm not-"

Elric's voice caught in his throat as he caught sight of the visitor. She looked to be college-aged and had deep ruby eyes that contrasted with her golden blonde hair. The faint scent of lilacs wafted through the doorway, momentarily giving pause to Elric's poor mood.

"What?"

The girl bowed, her smooth hair flowing over the red silk of the dress she was wearing.

"This is Melov's Talent Agency, correct?"

Instead of answering, Elric just nodded at the sign next to his door.

"Ahh… Awesome! I'm looking for an agency to partner with, can I join yours?"

The girl didn't seem to be disturbed by the scowl hanging on Elric's face.

"We're not recruiting, and we don't manage entertainers anymore. How did you even find our business anyway?"

The girl's expression immediately fell, and Elric frowned as he looked over the girl.

"Besides, are you trying to become an adult entertainer or something? We've never managed anyone in that business before, but I have heard quite a few horror stories. If you really want to get into that kind of stuff…"

Elric rubbed his chin for a moment before continuing.

"You should try Nellies Talent Agency. You're beautiful enough to be picked up as a model for them, and you won't need to sell your body."

The girl rapidly shook her head.

"No, I'm a singer! I only dressed up because…"

Her voice trailed off.

"Because I've been rejected everywhere else, and I thought this might increase my chances of getting an agency's support…"

Elric couldn't help but feel a bit bad for the girl as he saw the defeated expression on her face, but he still shook his head.

"Well, sorry, but my pops isn't recruiting right now, and I'm not really part of the business yet. Did Nellies really deny you? They take in anyone who looks above average."

The girl nodded her head.

"Yea. I think it's because there is a bigger singer that hates me. There were a few places I went to where they already seemed to know who I was when they turned me away."

Elric's eyebrows raised, and he urged her to continue explaining.

"I managed to book a gig at a bar for myself, but I got into a conflict with another singer there, and I never actually got to perform… I was just trying to follow the listed rules."

Internally, Elric started to speculate on who it could've been.

There weren't many agencies powerful enough to influence all of the other agencies in the city to turn away potential talent.

"The singer, I think her name was Alha Nulstaya. She's really popular… I don't think I'll ever get another gig here again."

Elric's face froze for a moment.

'Nulstaya… WStar agency. Of course it's them.'

The girl started to look a bit panicked as she saw Elric's expressionless face.

"I-I'm sorry for trying to bring you into this. I know if I'm enemies with her, it could cause trouble for your agency too."

Elric snapped back to the present and started shaking his head.

"Nope, it's the opposite. There's actually some enmity between my father's company and WStar. If you're enemies with them, I might be able to convince him to take you in."

The girl looked confused as Elric held open the door, but she still followed him in.

After leading the girl over to the living room, Elric went off to find his father.

Instead of having a dedicated office building, Peliston Melov decided to work from home. Their agency was small enough for it to work out, and it was a lot more convenient not to have to travel to and from work each day.

After knocking on the door, Elric poked his head into his father's office. 

"Yo Pops, there's a girl downstairs, she wants to join the agency."

Without even pulling his eyes away from the screen he was focused on, Peliston shook his head.

"I've already got my hands full. Send her away."

"She's enemies with WStar. We can use this to mess with them-"

Pelsiton finally looked up, his dull eyes focusing on Elric's face.

"It's useless. We can't compete with them anymore, so just send her away."

Elric's fingers clenched as he watched his father refocus on his computer. 

Give up?

Let their enemies get away with whatever they felt like?

'That's not something Dad would've ever said before.'

Elric slowly made his way back down to the family room.

The girl was sitting in the center of the couch, her posture perfect as she waited for the arrival of Elric's father.

When she saw the young man returning, her face lit up with excitement.

"So? What did he say? Can I sing for your agency?"

Elric's fists opened and closed as he prepared to tell her the bad news.

"Sorry. He said that he's too busy-"

The girl's expression fell.

"-So you'll have to settle with me."

She froze for a moment, then jumped up and lunged toward Elric. 

"Yes!! Thank you!"

Elric took a startled step backward but couldn't avoid being caught by the girl's tight hug.