The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

SNOW and Kiran were watching the live broadcast of [Fieldtrip]. They were at the usual greenhouse where they often eat lunch. They were watching as Astrid, Lauren, and the singer – Miria were enthusiastically selling fish.

Kiran was actually quite surprised to see Astrid playing the guitar. He also knew how to play, not as well as the piano though. That's why he could tell that Astrid must have been out of practice. He missed a couple of notes and the way he struck the chords felt a bit lagging at times.

Not that it was noticeable. He only noticed it because of his perfect pitch. For casual listeners, Astrid's guitar playing skill was more than enough. Add that to Miria Lane's beautiful voice and no one could even tell that Astrid made a mistake.

"I hope they could sell all those fish soon, so they don't have to eat lunch so late," he commented.

Snow nodded. He ate a piece of vegetable and sighed a bit. "I miss Astrid."

"Which one do you miss more? Aster or the dishes he shared with us during lunch?" Kiran asked with a teasing tone.

Snow acted as if he was offended. "Of course, it's Astrid."

The two looked at each other and then both laughed.

"Yes, I also miss Aster," Kiran said after a while.

It had been about three weeks since Astrid asked for leave from school. It's a month long leave so there's still another week before he returned. But he was glad that the other had continuous work piling up for him.

Even though he still didn't know much about this industry, having work one after another was definitely good for a new actor just starting out. After all, it's a way to get more public recognition.

Snow nodded. But frankly, he envied Astrid a little. The other could already work in such big productions. Of course, with his talent, that should only be natural.

On that front, Astrid was also quite enviable. He's happy for him, of course. But it's also in human nature to feel envy of such things. At least, for him, it's not a negative thing. It's something that could help him strive more. In fact, because of this, he had been dilligent in looking for audition opportunities.

He actually had found some, but most of it were not really very good. They just wanted a good-looking person to stand on the side and continued to look pretty. He really didn't want such roles. He knew that as someone who was barely considered a newbie, being picky was not an option.

But he wanted his first role to be at least be meaningful to some extent. It's probably just his vanity talking. But he couldn't help it. He's stubborn that way.

"By the way, how was your meeting with the people from Polaris?" Snow asked, changing the topic.

Kiran received a call from Polaris asking for a meeting with some of the people from their music department. When the other told him about it, he was also quite surprised. But then he quickly understood how it happened. Either Astrid or Lauren told someone from Polaris about Kiran's incredible musical talent.

Whether it was Lauren or Astrid, that was very kind of them. But it's not as if Kiran didn't deserve it. If there's a student in the music department of this school who deserved it, then it would be Kiran. He's really happy for the other when he heard that. He truly hoped that it would go well for Kiran.

Kiran scratched his cheek as if embarrassed. "Well, I think it went well?"

"Why does it sound like you're not sure? They didn't try to deceive you, right?" Snow asked with a serious expression on his face.

"No, no. They didn't! I just feel like everything was so surreal that I still couldn't believe that someone was really willing to pay me for my music."

Snow let out a sigh of relief when he heard that. "Why not? With your talent, it should be something that is expected. You should try to get used to that. I'm certain that you will be known all over the Empire because of your amazing music."

Kiran blushed. Snow often had this cold expression on his face. So, hearing the other complimenting him so honestly made him felt a bit shy. "Thank you."

Snow showed a slight smile. "So, did Polaris offer you a contract to be a singer?"

"They did at first but I rejected it," Kiran said.

"But why?" Snow quickly asked, the expression on his face clearly said that he didn't understand.

"I don't really want to be a singer."

Being a singer wasn't really the reason why he went to Redwood, in the first place. Although he wanted to earn money, but not in a way where he would be a celebrity whose face would be known all over the Empire.

He was actually wondering how he could earn money with his music without his face being made public. Working at Miss Rose's piano lounge made him slowly realized what he really wanted.

"I told them that they could commission me as a composer," he added to his response to Snow.

That's right. He wanted to be a well-known composer. And the meeting he had with the people from Polaris was the first step to that.

-----

Astrid, Lauren, and Miria were finally able to sell all the fish they caught. And the three finally were able to rest while eating lunch. It's just that instead of taking them to some restaurant to eat, the program team took them to the kitchen of a restaurant near the market. There, they were told to cook their own lunch using the ingredients provided to them.

"What should we do?" Miria asked in a worried tone.

Lauren then showed a triumphant look. "You don't have to worry, Miria. Because we have Aster!" He put his arm over Astrid's shoulder. "Right, Aster?"

Astrid chuckled and pulled the sleeves he's wearing up to his elbows. "Yes. I'll make us lunch."