Chapter 3: The Start of Content

     Amethyst had no idea how long she laid there in her mother's cold embrace. She could hear Aqua behind her crying to himself. She was at a bit of a loss. Logic dictates that she is perfectly capable of moving on. She already experienced plenty of loss in her previous life, and she only developed a close connection to Ai recently. However, for some reason or another this event struck deep. So, she stayed there until first responders arrived. The next couple days passed in a blur.

     Amethyst just sat around watching the other two fuss about the social media reaction to the news of their moms passing. It was ridiculous but what could she do? It was not like she could turn back the clock and save their mom. She watched Ruby stare at the phone in her hand reading some unsavory tweets on twitter.

     "What do you mean inevitable...? Why? It 'Can't be help' if an Idol gets killed for falling in love?" Ruby raged at the screen. "Why!? There's no way that's reasonable?" Amethyst tuned out the rest of the rant. She knew that that would be the reaction. She had seen how parasocial people got with content creators, so she did not expect anything else. Plus, the entire industry was built on the idea of availability so who can blame the fans for reacting in such a way. Amethyst reasoned with herself.

     Amethyst thought more about their living situation and the financial burden that would come with the three of them. Watching Ruby cry her eyes out on the ground did not help lift her mood at all. The whole ordeal felt unreal. She almost had to pinch herself to see if any of this was actually real. "Life really has a way of playing people..." Amethyst continued to stare blankly at the events occurring in front of her. Amethyst turned her attention to Aqua who, like her, was watching Ruby's outburst quietly. They both saw it happen. They both watched as the light faded from their mother's eyes. They both felt her body grow cold. Amethyst felt a deep pity for Aqua, but she also was grateful that Ruby was spared the sight of their mom's dead body. "Just as I was getting used to it..." Amethyst thought to herself.

     Miyako would drive the trio to counseling. Amethyst did not mind the counseling sessions though. It was something she used to distract herself. At least it was slightly intellectually stimulating unlike the rest of her life currently. That said it seemed like the counselor needed more psychological support than they did. She honestly wondered how the other two were taking things. How would this event influence the other two? She already had her plans in order, but Aqua and Ruby both had their lives in front of them. The effect on her would be minimal, she thought to herself as she answered the counselor's questions.

     Amethyst did not expect Miyako to do the paperwork to adopt all three of them. In hindsight, it was quite obvious since she already became their de facto guardian after Ai's death but in the moment, Amethyst had a lot of other things on her mind. Amethyst was in her own little world as Ruby fell into Miyako's embrace. Her head was empty as she observed the scene in front of her.

     "What am I supposed to be doing right now?" Amethyst thought as she continued to look at the scene unfolding in front of her. "Should she feel sad, angry, or something else?" Amethyst did not know how to answer that question.

     It bugged her. Something about the whole event bugged her, but she did not know what it was. It was like an itch that she could not scratch. It frustrated her to no end, and no amount of introspection could make it go away. Amethyst went through the motions of life, but she was continually distracted by something that she could not grasp.

      "Mama said, I might become an idol in the future. Aqua, Amethyst, do you think I can become one?" Ruby said in the confines of the car.

     Amethyst was glad to be snapped out of her thoughts by her sister. She took a second to consider Ruby's words before saying, "Skill wise I am sure you can do it. However, I don't know if it is a wise choice of work."

     "Amethyst is right. There are a lot of other jobs that are easier. Plus, fans are egotistical." Aqua said, adding his opinion.

     "Yeah... Even then, mama still shone brightly." Ruby said.

     Amethyst shrugged, "I won't stop you. That would take too much effort."

     Ruby turned back around and smiled at Amethyst for her tacit endorsement. Amethyst just gave a small nod before zoning out again.

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     Aqua was now deep in thought. "I am sure Ruby would be able to get over this. She is a pure kid for better or worse. Amethyst on the other hand..." Aqua looked over to his right and saw the vacant look of Amethyst. "Well, I guess I cannot just leave her in this state." He sighed to himself. However, that is when it hit him.

     "That slacker is the same man who killed me. How is that possible? How did he know which hospital Ai went to? Ai purposefully went to a hospital that was out in the middle of nowhere so it would be hard to find. How did he know our new address? The culprit was some student with no skills so how could he attain the information? All these questions point to one simple solution. Someone was providing him with information." Aqua pondered the question a bit more.

     "The president would not kill his business like this, so it had to be someone else. Ai was not particularly close with the other members of the group, so it had to be someone else." Aqua thought through all the events that occurred up until Ai's death. He played through every detail before he came to a conclusion. "My father did this! Ai was not the type to interact with people outside the field. So that means there is a big likelihood that he is in the entertainment industry in some sort of capacity. The man that did all this is in the entertainment industry. I will hunt him to the ends of the earth!"

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     Amethyst was tapped on the shoulder. As she turned to look at Aqua, she saw something in his eyes that she had never seen before. His eyes were filled with so much anger and determination that it managed to be unsettling to her. "What?" She asked.

     "I just need to step outside for a bit, do you mind?" Aqua's reply was a bit too quick for her liking, but she nodded and got out of the car making room for Aqua to get out as well.

     Before Aqua could walk off Amethyst grabbed his arm. "I doubt Miyako would want us wandering off."

     "I just need to talk to the director, that's all. I won't get lost."

     Amethyst tilted her head to one side before shrugging slightly and releasing his arm. She watched him disappear into the building. As she leaned against the car's exterior she asked, "Ruby, do you really want to be an idol?"

     "Yeah." The enthusiasm was muted but Amethyst could tell that she was being earnest. Ruby continued, "So where did Aqua go?"

     "He went to follow Ai's wish." Amethyst said vaguely addressing the fact that Ai had wished for him to become an actor.

     Ruby stuck her head out of the car and looked at Amethyst before asking, "What exactly does that mean?"

     Amethyst stared back at Ruby, and chuckled. "Figure it out yourself. Utilize that brain of yours." When ruby responded with a pout Amethyst continued, "However, if you really need me to spell it out for you, he is going to talk to the director."

     Ruby smiled slightly as she nodded her head. Amethyst wondered what kind of assumptions she would make about the facts that she had provided. Amethyst did not prescribe any positive motive to Aqua's sudden interest in the entertainment industry, but she was not going to get in the way of Ruby's little fantasies. Plus, Amethyst could guess what Ruby was thinking anyways.

     By the time Aqua got back to the car Ruby had become dead set on following her mother's footsteps. Amethyst just tacitly approved of every crazy idea she had. She honestly did not care that much anyways. It was not as if any of Ruby's plans were actually going to come to fruition, so what was the problem in humoring her for a bit.

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     Years past, and Amethyst had grown used to the feeling of being alone inside her room. Currently, she was working on one of her many school assignments that she put off to the last minute. She enjoyed listening to people reading books aloud on YouTube while she worked which delayed the progress of her work even more. However, the background noise of the YouTube videos would stop her mind from wandering which in her book was a good thing.

    She figured that out a long time ago. If she allowed herself to think she might allow herself to remember, and she never wants to remember. Amethyst typed away at her desk while listening to the original stories of a now abandoned YouTube channel. She was lost in the monotony of the schoolwork and the droning voice of the narrator.

    After finishing a part of her assignment, she leaned back on her chair and looked at the second monitor. The video continued to play as she stared blankly at the second monitor. Eventually, she decided to right click on the channel and open it in a new tab. The last video was uploaded years ago, and she already listened to each story 3 times over.

    "Maybe I should watch 'True Crime' content," she thought to herself, but then she realized that she did not want to fall into the stereotype and decided against it. "What else can I use for stimulation?" She thought as she stared into the YouTube homepage.

    As the silence enveloped her, she could not help but let her mind wander a bit. Ruby was always bugging Miyako about the idol thing. It was actually quite funny if she took the time to stop and think about it. Miyako might have been able to help out Ruby directly if B-Komachi was still a thing, but it is not. Aqua on the other hand was an enigma. She had no clue what he was up to since he spent most of his time at the directors' place.

    A slight shiver ran up her back as she allowed herself to think too far into her past. She subconsciously stole a glance at the door camera she installed. The empty hallway of her house greeted her as always. The video feed was basically useless, but she installed the system anyways. Amethyst turned her attention back to her schoolwork.

    "It is not due till Friday anyways, so I still have a little time to just do what I want," she thought as she continued to scroll her YouTube feed. That is when she stumbled across a video that caught her eye. The thumbnail was nothing special, but the title intrigued her. It was a short video that was created by a fan of the dead YouTube channel. The music track was based on one of the stories Amethyst had been listening to. In Amethyst's opinion it was a good soundtrack, but as she continued to listen, she was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of melancholy. All of this content consumption had left her feeling empty and she needed another kind of fixation to help her get out of this rut. The weight of failure continued to follow her from her past. A shadow that would only grow larger if not dealt with quickly.

    That is when Amethyst noticed something in the description of the video. "Music made with BandLab." It was not a lot, but it was enough to pique her interest. This would be like the 100th hobby that she would have thrown herself into just to quit a couple months later but at least it could force the shadow of failure to abate at least for a time.

    She did not know music theory but decided to play around in BandLab anyways. After 8 hours of trial and error she created a short soundtrack. It was not long. It was less than a minute in length, but she enjoyed how it sounded. She decided to research how to make an audio visualizer, and after refusing to agree to the terms of service for easier audio visualizer software she decided to just do it herself. By the end of her endeavor, she finally made a video for her track. This is when she was hit with a dilemma. Should she post it, or should she keep it to herself?

    Looking at her door camera feed she saw Ruby making her way into the hallway. With a smile she uploaded it onto her empty YouTube channel.

https://youtu.be/ytCo--2EQYk

    "Well, if anyone in the future asks, I can safely say that I started before Ruby." With a smirk on her face she leaned back in her chair satisfied.

(Not actually how the room looks XD So yeah.)

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2243 words

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