We hugged as a team after that, then we let the girls rest. That didn't last for long, however. The owner of the bar only knocked on the door once and opened it before we could even answer.

He stood in front of me and looked me in the eye.

"Please perform again tomorrow."

A sigh of relief came out of my mouth. There were no plans for the following day, so I eagerly accepted.

"Sure."

He smiled and stepped out of the room without saying anything. The girls laughed and continued to rest for several minutes.

Once they felt rested enough, it was time to proceed with the second part of the plan. We grabbed as much as we could of the merchandise we had been able to bring with us and walked back into the bar.

The entire team approached the humans and Furenoos to offer them our merchandise: coffee mugs, figurines, bottles, and bags.

We could only sell the clothes to the humans since Furenoos didn't wear clothes; their fur protected them from the weather pretty well already. Our only chance was to sell them accessories like hats, wristbands, and necklaces.

To our surprise, they bought some of the stuff, so we asked them for feedback. Most of the complaints weren't about the size, but about the shape. We wrote it down for Tomokazu.

Aside from that, they pointed out that the prices were incredibly low. It seemed we didn't get them right despite our research about their currency. It was a difficult topic to get a grasp on since the conversion to terras was also incredibly low. Fortunately, they all gave useful opinions and comparisons.

We sold almost half of the merchandise by the time we needed to go back to the ship, which exceeded our expectations. The girls were finally able to take a shower after two hours, then we spent several hours walking around Furenoora.

We visited shops, a park with statues of important people in Furenoo history, a marketplace, and other food places. It was interesting to see how many things resembled their counterparts on Earth.

It had become dark by the time we returned to the ship. Nights lasted much longer than the day. In general, the time system was too different from Earth's. We were better off using Earth's time to not ruin our sleep schedule too much.

Although the performance the next day had a different setlist, we had even more success than on the previous day. There were many more Furenoos this time and they all clapped and cheered. It seemed like they had told their friends about us.

The owner asked us for another performance, but we already had a show scheduled in a restaurant my contact had found.

There were far fewer humans in the restaurant, yet they still managed to guide the Furenoos into enjoying the show. Some of them even approached us to tell us they had come from the bar just to watch us, giving us the sign that we were doing a great job.

Eventually, my contact was being flooded with requests to have Blostars perform at several other places. We had scheduled six shows for the next two days before we realized it. Luckily, the girls only had to perform for less than an hour each time.

The two days flew by. All of the performances were a success, each one having more and more Furenoos cheering for us.

Sadly, it was time to return home, but we were leaving with our heads held high. More importantly, we were leaving with inspiration. Umi had already started writing a new song, which seemed very promising.

We waited in our rooms for a couple of hours more than planned because a few passengers were missing. It wasn't a rare occurrence and this wasn't the exception, fortunately.

The ship finally took off and we were in space in the blink of an eye.

Nothing much happened for the following hour until the lights in the room turned off out of nowhere.

"Did you turn them off?" asked Aki.

I shook my head. "Did you?"

"No…."

They suddenly turned back on, but they were red now. Then, a deafening siren blasted my ears. I covered them for the few seconds it was on, then everything turned off again.

Aki and I stared at each other without blinking. I ran to the window to see if something was happening outside, but everything seemed normal.

"The door is locked," Aki said as she tried to pull it open.

"What the hell is happening?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it."

The door suddenly opened and someone ran inside. Aki fell back but I managed to catch her before she reached the floor. I stood in front of her and extended my arms.

The person closed the door hastily. About to ask who she was, I noticed she wore the same uniform as the security guards.

"Are you a security guard?" I asked.

"I am…," she panted.

"Why are you exhausted?" worried Aki. "What's going on out there?"

She turned around and approached us. She signaled us to stay quiet by placing her finger on her lips.

"The ship was hijacked."

My heart skipped a beat.

"What? Is that possible? Ships are supposed to be… impenetrable."

"I don't know how or why, but I just saw three Furenoos on this floor."

"Furenoos?" questioned Aki. "Do they have the resources to do something like this?"

"I'm surprised as well," the security guard replied.

I asked, "What are you going to do? Is there a plan for cases like these?"

"There definitely is. Our communication channels are still up, but we're keeping them clear to assess the situation properly."

"Then what?" asked Aki. "Do you at least have a weapon?"

The security guard reached for something on her belt. She then extended her hand to offer me something with a hole in the front, a sight on the top, and a trigger on the bottom.

A gun?!

"I have two, in fact," she said.

I stared down at it for an eternity. I didn't want to grab a gun, let alone shoot it.

"Grab it," the security guard said with confidence. "There are only two security guards per column floor. We're going to reunite, but as I just said, there are at least three Furenoos on this floor. I'm going to need as much help as I can get."

Struggling to even gulp, I grabbed the gun.

"Is there something I should know?"

She nodded.

"The safety lock is still on. You're going to move this switch down before we step out of the room. After that, don't aim it at anyone unless you're confident they are bad people. If they are, aim at any part of their body, then pull the trigger. Understood?"

No words would come out of my mouth, so I merely nodded.

She placed her hand on my shoulder.

"I'm very sorry for making you do this. No civilian should ever have to go through something like this, but we don't have many options."

"Can't I refuse?"

"You can, but you'd leave me in a very precarious spot."

I turned around to look at Aki, who wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her back.

"It's going to be alright," I said.

"I know," she replied.

The hug continued for a while, yet the security guard didn't interrupt us. Aki and I kissed each other. Before turning around, I glanced out the window.

This might be a dream.

As much as I tried to wake up, nothing happened. I had no choice but to follow the security guard to the door.

"Stay behind me," she said. "The hallway is completely dark, so you're going to use the night vision of your glasses and cover my back, alright?"

"Alright."

"Good. Pull the switch down."

I looked down at the gun to make sure I was doing it right. The click signaled it had been unlocked.

"Remember, only aim it at bad people. I'm going to tell the other security guards about our plan."

She stared down at the floor for a few seconds. She hadn't even talked when she looked back at me and nodded. I nodded back at her.

At first, she slowly pulled the door open to create a small gap to look outside, then she pulled it more just so we were able to fit. I bent forward and lowered my head before following her outside. I closed the door as quietly as possible behind me.

The night vision of my glasses allowed me to see and remember we were standing in the only corridor on the floor that had one way in instead of two. It now made sense why she had stepped into our room out of the rest on the floor.

Once the security guard surveyed the area, she signaled me to follow her with her hand. We snuck down its length until we reached the end of the corridor, which connected with the other three corridors on the floor. She signaled me to stop before peeking around the corner.

Without looking back at me, she raised one of her fingers in front of me.

There's one Furenoo?

Her hand returned to hold her gun, along with her other hand. She peeked out with her gun this time. Before I realized it, a high-pitched sound shot out of the gun, making me jolt.

A loud blow then startled me. I peeked out of the corner just to see a Furenoo convulsing on the floor. A few seconds later, they stopped moving.

Wait, these are stun guns?

Something moved just beyond the Furenoo on the floor. It was another Furenoo, walking down the stairs in the same direction we were looking in. He slowly approached the Furenoo on the floor until his entire body was visible to us.

The security guard seemed ready to shoot again, but I noticed something moving in one of the other two corridors to our side.

It was another Furenoo, already aiming at us with a weapon.