9:00 IST, Seventh Day, Sixth Month, 3079 PV | City Stelarum / The Sky

  “Kooo!”

  “What is it, darling?”

  “Im bored, why do we have to ride in this shuttle all by ourselves.”

  “Well, we are the hosts of the big event.”

  “But, why can't we walk through the streets, isn't it our city?”

  “Hmm, there are lots of people from offworld here today. When it's just our own people it's fine, but we don't want dignitaries and such to think we are weak. It's important to show up in style.”

  “But, it's so boring up here. How long will we just circle around?”

  “Im not sure. But I know of a great way to spend the bit of alone time we have.”

  The edges of her mouth raise up into a nice smile.

  About an hour later..

  The shuttle starts to descend. Ripping Ray (who is super duper cute) and I away from our time-passing activities.

  Descend into what you might ask?

  Well, it's the grand opening ceremony for the City of Stelarum!

  We've got cake, alcohol, and cake. Oh, we've also got cake. We've also got some carnival games and a ton of other human stuff.

  The best part? All the alcohol and food is made with locally sourced ingredients. So it kinda is also a harvest festival of sorts. It's been a big time coming. Plus we've finished the first stage of our grand plan to make City Stelarum the new hub of universal attention.

  Below, we can see the beginnings of the city. It's not much, but we've got several thousand buildings now. Plus the start of a megascraper or two.

  Currently around three million humans are residing on the planet. With another two million in orbit still. Our agriculture is enough to sustain everyone though. Plus we've got plenty of entertainment districts and other things. All the pleasures that one could want in a city.

  I watch as we descend into the current centerpiece of the city – a grand stadium. It's modeled after the old Roman Colosseum, but far larger. With a capacity for 8 million spectators, it's a massive structure. Like 50% of all of our effort has gone into building it.

  Some might say it's a tyrannical waste of resources.

  But, we say it's a perfect place to express one's individuality. I will soon tell you why.

  The stands are absolutely packed. In fact, there were so many people that showed up that we had to limit entry into the city. The entire star system is currently filled with hundreds of thousands of ships, many still full of people. Unfortunately, they shall have to watch over sensors or the net.

  I guess when two of the biggest celebrities in the universe announce a grand party, everyone rushes to come attend. We didn't expect anywhere near this turnout. Which just means that we underestimated the effect that our grand plan shall have.

  Which is good, it's always better to have your plans outperform your expectations.

  But still, estimations show that around two hundred million people showed up. Considering we only announced the event three weeks prior, that's absolutely absurd. It seems we should've made an even bigger stadium. Which would've been difficult to do in gravity. We basically told the engineers to make the biggest klacking thing they could with the tech we have.

  And boy, did they deliver.

  Our shuttle descends into the specific spot designed for us.

  “You ready, darling Ko?”

  “Never been more ready, darling Ray.”

  We are quickly escorted out of the shuttle, under the stadium and into the staging area.

  There, we change into our new outfits and prepare to make our grand entrance. In typical Moonlight Duo fashion. Though, we won't be crashing the party this time, rather kicking it off.

  We hop onto the elevator, and begin rising up to the stage. Floating in the center of the stadium.

  We emerge to a deafening crowd. Like, they go absolutely ballistic. The lights nearly blind me before I can adjust.

  Then, it all clicks into place.

  Ray and I standing on the center stage, ready to show off to those all across the universe.

  Ray is (super duper cutely) wearing a brilliant silver tuxedo, really showing off her dashing side. But it's not a normal tuxedo, it has a bunch of frills, and rather than pants it cuts into a pretty sharp skirt, It's very cute on her. Of course, on the front and back is our signature emblem, a purple crescent moon surrounded by a silver circle.

  I am wearing a similar tuxedo, but it is in purple and I'm wearing pants. She tried to get me into a skirt, but I somehow managed to refuse her. I guess she knows how far she can push me.

  We also have our capes and earrings on. Making us look like a bunch of pop idols. Which is exactly the idea, after all, can you have an idol concert without idols?

  The music starts, a very electro-heavy pop song. The lyrics include a lot of stuff about freedom and whatnot. I mean, we kinda chose that theme, so we better stick with it.

  A pair of holographic microphones appear in our hands and there are a ton of special effects.

  Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

  Naturally, we start dancing and Ray even sings! Just like you'd see at an idol concert.

  Naturally, she didn't actually put in all the effort to learn how to sing. She is using a special program that converts her intention into perfect singing. It really is magical. Though it is still her, it's not like it sounds wrong or anything.

  I keep getting distracted and miss a few steps. Ray is just too cute and I keep getting focused on her. I think she does the same a few times too. We really are a hopeless pair, aren't we?

  The first song ends and we do a brief skit about how nice the planet is. As well as making sure everyone is having fun. You know, typical idol stuff.

  Id like to describe more of what happened, but I was so exhausted and focused on getting the moments right that I dont have a very good memory of it. I also absolutely refuse to look at the videos of me stumbling across the stage.

  We finished our routine, Ray (who is super duper cute) obviously did far better than I did. Honestly, she should've just done the whole thing by herself.

  “Heya adoring fans. Did you all enjoy the show?” *crowd cheers* “Well, ive got some good news and bad news. Let's do the bad news first, shall we?

  This was our debut performance, but also our graduation performance. Im sure you all are disappointed, but we are kinda competing to rule humanity. Keeping up an idol career at the same time just isn't feasible.” The crowd makes sounds of disappointment.

  “But Fear not! For this shall not be the end of the fun. I am happy to announce the formation of the Moonlight Entertainment Company! The first of our soon to be many projects, is a brand new Idol group!

  Yes, quite ambitious to launch two idol groups on the same day. But, without further ado, let me welcome the Starlight Septuplet to the stage! Do be sure to give them your everdying love!”

  We exit the stage, only for seven new idols to take to the stage. They were hand selected by the two of us, and trained by the best in the industry. You remember how we specifically approached a few companies back on Earth, yeah, those were Idol companies.

  After all, managing idols requires a lot of expertise. Unfortunately, Ray and I lack that expertise. We also don't have the time to manage multiple idol groups while also competing in Humanity’s Game.

  So, while the new idol group does their debut thing. We've got one other thing to prepare for this ceremony.

  Wait, did you really think that some idols were all we planned for the first stage of our plan? You seem to have severely underestimated how much we can do in a few months.

  We entered back out onto the stage, the Starlight Septuplet was received quite nicely thankfully. This time as we enter the stage, dozens of holoscreens appear around us. In preparation for our next move of the day.

  Ray:“Guess what folks!”

  Ko:”We’re back, and we've got some more cool things to show you. You can't have thought that some cool idols were all we had, right?”

  The crowd erupts into cheers, It seems that they were really hoping that we had more.

  Ray:”Well, we won't waste too much of your time. Though I'm sure you're happy to sit here for hours looking at Ko’s super cute face.”

  “Darling, I think they are all here to see your super duper cute face. They wouldn't be here for lil ol me.” I blow a kiss to her, which she gratefully accepts.

  “Blasphemy, you are at least equally as cute as I. Thus they must be here to see both of us!”

  The crowd laughs.

  Ray:”Whaddya say we announce the next thing we've got? Or should we continue to build suspense?”

  “I think that suspense is good, but we have enough already. Why don't you do the honors, darling.”

  “Aww, you're so kind, darling. Give me the big honor. Well, I guess I am the most beautiful in the universe. It's only natural.

  Anyways, to our dear fans all across the universe, we announce that the Moonlight Entertainment Company will not just host idols!

  But what else will there be you ask, why, Anime, manga, light novels, webnovels and some movies too! Do be sure to check out this trailer for our first film, it comes out next week, only in City Stelarum theaters for now!”

  The crowd cheers as the trailer for our first film plays.

  Of course, we aren't actually really involved in the direction or creation. That is all due to a bunch of highly skilled people that put in ridiculous amounts of effort.

  Like serious, story writers, screen play writers, animators, directors, voice actors, costume designers, story boarders, and other support staff put so much work into these things. We got to see some of the effort that is put into these things. It makes us appreciate Anime and the like all the more.

  We exit the stage after our grand display and a bit of crowdwork. We quickly changed out of the costumes. Which are very annoying and hot. Like, you'd think they could make costumes that are comfortable and stylish. But I guess combined with all the dancing and stuff, you're bound to get hot unless you're wearing practically nothing.

  Ray and I speak with the staff a bit. But then we get up to a bit of mischief.

  Ray looks over at me with a very enticing grin, “Hey darling. I've got something special.”

  “What is it?”

  She presents what appears to be a mask. “Its a mask, but its no ordinary mask, watch!” She puts the mask on, and her face immediately morphs into a completely different face!

  “Oh no, where did my super cute darling go? She seems to have disappeared.” I fake a deep frown, after all, my darling is gone, whatever shall I do.

  Ray leans over and gives me a kiss. I feel a jolt of electricity, different from the normal one of her kisses. I blink and then suddenly I can see her cute face again.

  “You see, it's possible to allow someone to see through it, you just have to touch them.”

  “Hmm, I like it, especially if it involves getting kisses from my super cute girlfriend.”

  She produces another mask and places it upon my face. Of course, giving me another kiss, this one much longer than the last. After all, gotta make sure that we can see through each other's masks, right?

  We then proceed to do something very naughty.

  We sneak out of the stadium.

  We then proceed to go join the festivities in the streets. After all, what's the point of throwing a party if you cant have some fun for yourselves?

  Ray (super cutely) drags me around to all the food stalls, forcing me to try every single bit of food. I get full quite quickly and we end up heading towards one of the fair areas that is setup. Complete with ferris wheels, roller coasters and the like.

  You have no idea how hard it was to configure the alien design technology to draw blueprints such structures. Its a pain, while we do have engineers, they arent fully accustomed to using the different materials and techniques. Meaning we are reliant upon assisted design tech.

  Still, it allows us to make some pretty cool stuff.

  We hop on the ferris wheel. After all, it's kinda required for couples to ride one every time you come across one. It's like, super romantic and all.

  When we are nearing the top, Ray, who is sitting right next to me, suddenly leans over and whispers super sexily in my ear. “You know, you're really cute. I love you.” She even gives me a little nibble on the earlobe. I nearly die of happiness at that moment.

  Of course, I reciprocate the affection exactly. I don't want her to start calling me jerk instead of hero. Hero is a much better name for certain activities.

  I lean my head onto her shoulder and we watch the beautiful city of the stars as the ferris wheel descends.

  Then we head back home, linked arm in arm of course.

  Ah yes. Home, on an alien planet who knows how far from Earth.

  But, Ray is here with me, and super cute. Wherever she is, is my home.

  So, no matter what. As long as we are together, we will overcome anything that stands before us. If we are separated, I will fight with all of my strength to ensure we are reunited. After all, a duo needs two people.

  So, bring it on.

  End of Chapter 66

  Next: Chapter 67 | Contractual Arrangements