“It’s settled, then?” Adah said.

  She tapped a finger against the whiteboard behind her to emphasize her point. However, this wasn’t the large, rolling whiteboard of the agency’s back office but a new one that Adah had hung from her bedroom wall. Like her map of Letria, this board was a way of tracking all of Adah’s more personal projects and goals—stuff that would overcrowd the team whiteboard downstairs.

  “I think it’ll work,” Rika said. “But that’s a tight timeline.”

  “We both work better with a gun to our heads, don’t we?” Adah said. “I’ll spend as many late nights with you as it takes.”

  She and Rika had nearly wrapped up the planning for their music video. After testing Adah’s weapon yesterday, Seb had pulled a frame out of the video he filmed that would work perfectly as a teaser post. Now that they had reached that stage, Adah realized she and Rika needed to nail down some specifics of their project before she could share anything.

  First and foremost, they needed a name. Adah had agreed to handle that, but had been putting it off. She was more nervous about that decision than she was about actually singing. Just thinking about how the name “Sparkling Starbloom” had worked out for her made her cringe. Now she was responsible for a name that both she and Rika had to perform under?

  None of her ideas for blending their names like a celebrity couple had worked. Shining Heart? TwiLyrika? Bad and worse. That had been Adah’s hope at an easy way out, and it failed miserably. In the end, an answer had appeared before her in a random spark of inspiration, much like the name Twilight Heartbreak had.

  Shot Through the Heart. “Heartshot” for short. Or even just “
  The name had everything they could want. While not a direct mashup of their names, it still combined their themes in a cohesive way, with Rika’s bullets and Adah’s heart motif. Yet, it was still a somewhat edgy way of incorporating the idea of hearts. A violent metaphor for heartache was a perfect match for Heartbreak as a character. Of course, the romantic implications were also essential for her and Rika’s duo.

  Add in the fun shorthand “
  So, Adah had written across the top of the whiteboard: Shot Through the Heart MV #1.

  The actual song title could wait—one name at a time. Therefore, the next point of discussion was a release date. Adah wanted something more tangible to include with her teaser post, something specific that people could anticipate. The fans would speculate all the more fervently if they knew exactly when they’d learn more. Adah knew from experience that having a date to look forward to, no matter how far in the future, would help carry a fan’s excitement further than blind expectations.

  To determine a release date, Rika had to walk Adah through all the steps of producing a song. Rika was always taking notes on her own ideas in addition to recording covers, so the songwriting process could go quick. For this first song, they’d stick to synthetic instrumentation, which Rika also had plenty of practice producing. The main holdup would come from Adah reviewing Rika’s lyrics to align with Heartbreak’s character and her own comfort, as well as actually singing those lyrics. They wouldn’t know just how much trial and error Adah would require for that, so they decided to give themselves a grace period in their planning.

  Adah wrote out each step on the whiteboard as Rika explained it, along with an estimated time of completion. For recording a workable draft, they set themselves a deadline of ten days from now. They could handle additional tweaks and refinements after that, but they needed a more or less complete draft in order to proceed with filming and editing the rest of the music video. There’d be shots of them singing some of the lyrics, and the theme of the video needed to match the song, so the song had to come first.

  Ten days was shorter than Rika’s timeline for producing a cover song, but she’d have that extra runway to exercise her perfectionism if she needed to. Besides, Rika wasn’t tackling this project alone. Adah would help however she could, even if it was just being a sounding board for her or forcing her to sit down and get the work done. Cheerleader or prison warden, Adah would play her part.

  Once they had a song, Seb could begin work on the video in earnest. There were shots they could capture ahead of time, such as Rika firing her railgun and some generic closeups, but otherwise Adah would need to reconcile her storyboards against the actual song they ended up with. She had come up with a variety of ideas, which she could mix and match or adapt to fit the style of song they settled on.

  Though, as Seb had mentioned yesterday, the music would have to lean on the darker side. Even if Adah could come up with a scenario where Heartbreak begrudgingly participated in a hyperpop duet, the image of that arm crawling out of Beleth’s Bloodletter demanded at least an undertone of horror.

  Thinking back on the origin of Heartbreak’s transformation design, Adah figured a possible theme could be the corruption of Lyrika. Among the Sunbright girls, she was the one who had retained the most pure persona, so it could be fun to create a narrative where her captain was working to taint her soul.

  Adah was sure their shipping fans would eat that up. Not that she would know from experience, though.

  In any case, Seb estimated that filming all the main shots and coverage they would need for a full video would take another ten days. Adah then convinced him they could do it in five through a technique known as the all-nighter. He had negotiated for some overtime pay in return, which she was happy to provide. That was simply another marketing expense for the Department of Magic to cover.

  That brought the project’s timeline thus far to fifteen days, starting from today. One final piece of work remained unaccounted for: editing. Although Seb had skills in photography, and Adah could work with him to conceptualize the themes of the video, they’d need to hire outside help to edit it. A music video wasn’t the kind of project you could get away with cobbling together some basic transitions and color correction—not in the magical girl space, anyway.

  Someone who had video editing experience could breathe another layer of life into the project. They could even contribute a certain flair that could become representative of Adah and Rika’s duo—a signature style that all their future videos would share.

  Seb said that—through his fan circle—he knew just the guy for the job.

  “Best of all,” Seb had told her, “he can work fast. For you, he won’t leave his computer until the job’s done.”

  Adah was getting a little concerned that she was pushing this project into dangerous levels of crunch, but Seb assured her that this was the part of process she should worry about the least. The guy he had in mind was a special kind of talent. Even if Adah begged him to take it easy, he’d only double down on his work pace.

  Seb had texted this editor to see if he was up for the job, and he replied before Seb could even put his phone back in his pocket. Of course, his reply was an eager affirmative.

  For Heartbreak, I can do 12 hours. If she can give me 24, I’ll make it the best video of the year.

  “What about revisions?” Adah had asked Seb.

  He texted the editor again, who replied just as fast the second time.

  Whatever she wants, as fast as my computer can render it.

  To be safe, Adah marked editing as a three-day process on her timeline.

  If all went according to plan, and they worked their asses off, they could publish the video within eighteen days. For the sake of everyone’s sanity, Adah even pushed their deadline another three days out. That put them at exactly three weeks from today.

  With that, all that was left to do was make the post teasing this new endeavor. Even though all of this buildup had been Adah’s own idea, she still felt nervous when the time came to share her plan with the public. Once the post was out there, she couldn’t take it back without embarrassing herself and Rika. She had uploaded the picture—that single frame from Seb’s recording, now with their song’s release date written over it in blood red font—and typed up a caption, but hesitated to publish it.

  “Come on,” Rika said, shaking Adah’s shoulder. “You’re more scared of this than you were of what’s in that picture.”

  Rika had a point. She was strangely comfortable with how the scythe’s power had manifested. The more she had watched Seb’s footage, the more that smoky hand seemed like just another part of Twilight Heartbreak. The attack looked like it belong to Heartbreak in the same way [Nightwind Whip] did. If it suited her so well, and she had as much control over it as she felt she did, why should she be afraid of it?

  To Adah, the scythe’s attack was more evidence that humans used magic essence differently than Cruelties. The gray monsters were like imitations of the living beings they had killed. They were falsehoods. They were nightmares that, although based in reality, were only designed to twist and torture that reality.

  By comparison, the hand of smoke was nothing but an extension of Adah’s will. It didn’t pretend to be anything it wasn’t. Despite its unsettling appearance, the hand wasn’t much different from a spell. To an outsider, who couldn’t feel the heartbeat within the scythe, it wouldn’t seem different at all.

  Still, Adah did wonder how her weapon’s power would manifest if she transferred it into her body instead. But that was an experiment for the future.

  Today’s experiment was this promo post. If Adah was able to accept Beleth’s Bloodletter, surely she could accept whatever resulted from this. She tapped the phone screen and published the post. Below the photo with their release date, her message displayed.

  twilit_heart: Heartbreak x Lyrika | ? Shot Through the Heart ? | Coming for yours next
  Adah left the caption a little vague on purpose. The fans would focus on her scythe’s attack first, but would then start picking apart the text. She had given them enough clues that this was a teaser for music of some sort—Rika’s involvement practically gave it away—and she could follow up with additional teasers later. Snippets of the song, a preview of the video, photos of her and Rika together. She had no shortage of ideas.

  “Now what?” Rika asked.

  “Now we wait,” Adah said. “And hopefully the piglets come in squealing.”

  “‘Piglets?’” Rika repeated, her voice rotten with contempt. “Is that what you call them?”

  “That’s what they’ve started calling themselves. Yet another way I suffer as a result of Izzy’s stubbornness. Do you feel bad for me?”

  Rika wrapped her arms around her stomach.

  “I only feel like throwing up,” she said.

  At least, like Izzy, Adah’s fans were loyal. Their comments flooded in mere seconds after Adah pushed the post live.

  obscureZen: It is only natural that Heartbreak would have the arm of Beleth at her command. She should have an entire legion of demons at her disposal. We should all aspire to become demons after our deaths so that we can serve her as such. Also, first.

  ? tasokare_wota: how do i become demon

  ? chum22: check your phone in the middle of the sidewalk

  butanonakukoroni: heartbreak x lyrika can only mean one thing

  ? doc__salt: yuri?

  ? butanonakukoroni: two things…yuri and music

  treadonmeplz: SHOOT MY HEART RIGHT NOW

  ? FoggyPetals: ill do it for her stfu

  IcYcaT: why arent more of u talking about the GIANT HAND COMING OUT HER WEAPON???

  Comments continued to come in around these themes from both usernames that Adah recognized and those she didn’t. Apparently some of her quieter fans had come out of lurking to join in the excitement. In a similar vein, this post was on pace to become her most liked ever, with more hearts coming in than she’d ever seen so early after posting.

  The more thorough speculation her hardcore fans would most likely occur in whatever group chats or forums they congregated in. As a first teaser, though, this post was a roaring success.

  “Now we’re committed, huh?” Rika said.

  “Locked in together,” Adah said.

  “And you really learned from Grace, didn’t you? You want to work us to the bone.”

  “Just think of all the time we’ll get to spend together.”

  Rika smiled. “Don’t get too excited,” she said. “You might get sick of being around me when I’m recording. Just ask Lumi.”

  Adah had indeed heard stories of how Rika complained to her drowsy mascot at all hours of the night when she was having trouble singing a particular cover. Still, that was a responsibility Adah was more than happy to shoulder.

  “I’d better get writing,” Rika said, stretching her arms overhead. “Not like I’m at a loss for material now. Seeing that hand… let’s say it puts Heartbreak in a new perspective.”

  “I’m the same as I’ve ever been,” Adah said with a grin.

  Rika just shook her head. She walked over to Adah’s bedroom door and opened it, but almost jumped back when she came face-to-face with Emi on the other side.

  “Sorry,” the twin said, seeing how she surprised Rika. “I was about to knock.”

  “No problem,” Rika said. “In fact, let’s trade spots.”

  Rika slipped past Emi with a quick wave to Adah, then fled to her room. Most likely, she was about to take a nap before waking up in the middle of the night to write out some new ideas. According to her, that was how she maintained her productivity. Emi stepped inside Adah’s room to replace her.

  “Something on your mind?” Adah said to her.

  Adah had a sense of what it was. She hadn’t forgotten the meeting between Emi and Seb she had walked in on the day prior.

  Emi only nodded in response.

  “Take a seat,” Adah said, gesturing to her bed. “But I have to warn you, I’m all out of whiteboard.”