"Eiji,are you nervous?" Catarina asks the younger Otori as she was sitting in one of the chairs in the meeting room.

Eiji, who was standing by leaning in the table replied," Yes, a little. But I'm also excited to work with Ichinose-san. I just can't stand still."

"Why don't you relieve yourself by singing something?"

Eiji smiled,"If you wouldn't mind." So he started singing an English song. His gentle voice and figure made him look like an angel.

Catarina and Eiji didn't notice the door had opened while the later was singing. It was then Ichinose joined Eiji. The blonde noticed Nanami and stood up. She gives a nod acknowledging her presence which the later also returns. Then the two composers smile while they watch the two idols sing .

It's their first meeting and yet they are in such sync. Interesting.

As they finish singing, Nanami's clapping brings their attention to the females.

"That was wonderful ,you two," Nanami smiles. Catarina gives them a thumbs up.

"Thank you," Eiji thanks the two women.

"It's a great song ,isn't it?"Ichinose asks Eiji.

"Yeah. When I heard it performed onstage in London,I fell in love with it instantly. "

"What?You saw it in London?" Ichinose was astonished.

"My brother dragged me to a lot of different places."

I can imagine that clearly.

"Really? I've seen it plenty of times on DVD but I'd like to see performed in person someday. If I recall correctly in that scene," Ichinose shows a dance step ,"they used this dance step, right?"

Eiji becomes excited,"Yes that's right. Are you familiar with this step?"

"Of course," Ichinose replies.

It's rare to see Eiji this excited. Catarina watches Eiji with a smile. But aren't you forgetting something? Nanami just stares at them dumbfoundedly. The both males do the same dance move.

"I'm so glad I get to dance with you, Ichinose-san. I think we'll have fun working together in this project," Eiji smiles. Ichinose smiles back.Suddenly the brunette lets out a yelp as if remembering something.

Eiji moves to Catarina's side while Nanami moves to Ichinose's.

The younger boy starts," I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Otori Eiji." He offers his hand for a shake.

" Ichinose Tokiya." He accepts the hand.

"I'm Nanami Haruka. Nice to meet you."

" I'm Catarina. Looking forward to working with you."

With the sun almost setting, the first duet project meeting comes to an end.

"Thank you for today.We were just supposed to make introductions but we even had time to discuss the song," Nanami says to Eiji and Catarina.

"It was no problem. We were able to set on a concept and I enjoyed out conversation,"Eiji answers and Catarina nods.

"I'll create a demo tape based on the ideas you both gave me ," Catarina tells them. Ichinose thanked her. She then turned to Nanami ,"Nanami-San, shall we set up a date for our next meeting?"

"Sure,"Nanami smiles. The pink haired girl then begins,"Um Catarina-san, you are Camus-senpai's sister, right?"

Catarina expected this topic to arise sooner or later so she wasn't surprised. She answers in the affirmative and asks how she knew it.

Instead of Nanami, Ichinose replies, "Camus-san had told all of us that you two are siblings although you two don't have a good relation."

So he didn't say everything. Good thing then.

"Yup,he's right."

Ichinose continues,"In terms of looks, you two resemble each other very much. So we had assumed you two would be kind of the same."

Nanami joins,"But Catarina-san and Camus-senpai are very different. You are a lot more approachable while Camus-senpai is..."

"He is scary and always rude to others ?" Catarina completes for her.
The older composer hesitantly nodded. The blonde just thanked her and smiled lightly.

"Excuse me," Eiji's voice takes their attention,"I had fun singing that song with you. I love that song." He scratches the back of his neck,"The only time I've really heard it,though, was when I saw it performed onstage."

"What?Only once?" Ichinose was surprised.

"Yes,but after singing it together I now understand why my father said you're the greatest genius in STARISH," Eiji says while smiling.

Ichinose looks down,"I'm not a genius."

Eiji gets up from his seat and goes over to the blue haired idol.He passes a note to the later,"Excuse me. This is my phone number. Going forward, would you like to come practise at our
agency?"

Ichinose hesitates,"But, going to your agency..." Catarina understood what he was thinking.

Eiji is unaware but having him over might cause problem for him and STARISH .

"Is that a problem?" The young idol innocently asks. "We have a foreign choreographer visiting right now, so I thought it would help with the duet project." He smiles brightly.

Catarina mentally sighs. How can someone reject that angelic smile?

"I'll think about it," Ichinose finally gives in.

Not long after, the four leaves the meeting room to head back to their respective agencies or work. Catarina and Eiji are going outside the building.

"You have work after this,right?" The female asks.

"Yes. An interview and a TV show."

"I see. I'll hit the bakery before heading home."

"Didn't you buy cakes just two days ago?"

"Remember, the brain needs sugar to function," Catarina grins. Eiji sweatdrops at that. Even if the Permafrost siblings were polar opposites, they both had this extreme fondness for sweet things. "See you later then" The duo parted ways.

* * * * * * *
Three days have passed since the first meeting. Nanami and Catarina's efforts resulted in the creation of the demo of the song. That day just like Ichinose said, he went to Raging Entertainment to practice. He reached the third floor where he's supposed to meet with Eiji, though the former came a bit earlier than the meeting time. When he got out of the elevator, he was met with the sight of HEAVENS practicing.

"Eiji, you were off during the same section again," Eiichi corrected his brother.

"Got it. Sorry."

"Let's try it again from the top," Eiichi instructed.

"Yes please,"Eiji spoke determined.

Music started from the speakers and they began practicing. Halfway through the song, the elevator door opened to reveal Catarina. She spotted Ichinose at one corner watching her friends practice.

"Oh,Ichinose-san." At her voice, the blunette faced her.

"Catarina-san, good afternoon."

"Good afternoon. How was the demo version?"

"It was wonderful. I look forward to the completed song." His reply made Catarina flash a closed eye smile. Ichinose blushed slightly at the sight. Just like her brother, she is attractive and a cool beauty. They didn't notice that HEAVENS had taken a break.

Nagi and Shion were leaning on each other ,Kira sat at other end. Yamato was doing push ups even though they were on break,Van was checking his phone and Eiji was putting his stuff in his bag. Eiichi ,who was drinking water, noticed Catarina and Ichinose together through the transparent wall.

He mumbled to himself,"What's he doing here?" As on cue, Ichinose noticed his gaze and gave a slight bow. Catarina following his gaze met Eiichi's, so she waved at him. The tall brunette nodded and continued sipping his water. The blonde entered the lesson room and just as Ichinose was going to follow suit, Eiji's voice called out,"Ichinose-san."

The leader turned towards his brother ,"You invited him?"

"Yeah. I invited him so we could practice together. Should I not have?" A slight worried look crosses Eiji's face. Eiichi closed his eyes, "Do whatever you want." Eiji then took his belongings and went out to Ichinose.

"Na-chan, what are you doing here?" Van asks after noticing her presence.

"I forgot my phone in the lesson room.Saw you guys while going there."

"Aren't you supposed to meet with Haruka?" Nagi asks.

"I'm going there now. Later." With that she went to the piano room and later headed for Shining Agency.

Catarina reached Shining Agency within time. She entered the lesson room where Nanami was.

"Sorry to keep you waiting."

"Don't worry. You're on time."

While walking there, she crossed roads with Cecil. He had mistaken her for his senior form behind.As apology, he walked to the lesson room. They had small talks while walking. The prince too had  commented that she was different from her brother. He also whined that he should be more like her.

The two females started working in the song. The sky has turned orange by the time they were finished for the day.

Catarina stretched her arms and readjusted her ponytail before getting up.

"Thank you,Nanami-san. We were able to make nice progress."

"You're welcome." They share a smile . Catarina leaves for Raging Entertainment.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *
After taking a bath, Catarina opens her phone and sits on her bed. She started scrolling randomly when a particular news caught her eyes.

She narrows her eyes.'Ichinose Tokiya leaving ?Transfer to HEAVENS? Unexpected shock'....Ridiculous! Purely based on spectaculation!

The girl closed her eyes.However it might cause trouble for Ichinose-san and STARISH...And knowing Eiji ,he'll feel guilty thinking it's his fault. I have to be by his side.

Just as she thought, the next night Eiji had a troubled expression while looking through a few magazines. Catarina walks up to the boy but he is too immersed in his thoughts to even notice. The composer places a hand in his shoulder,"Eiji."

The said boy finally looks up,"Oh, Rin-Chan!" She sits beside the brunette.

"I know what you are thinking. Don't think about it 'coz it's not your fault."

"But...if I hadn't invited hi-"

"If you hadn't invited him over this wouldn't have happened? Correct because the opposite would've occurred. 'Otori Eiji suddenly transferring to STARISH' Would that have been any better?" Eiji dejectedly shakes his head.

"Listen Eiji, rumours would've spread no matter what you'd done. At times like this you shouldn't blame yourself.
Also Ichinose-san knows better than being troubled by such rumours .And I'm pretty sure this kind of baseless rumour would soon disappear. Now trust Onee-san in this,okay?"

"Okay,"Eiji finally smiles."But Rin-chan, you're younger than me!"

"Being just two months younger doesn't matter."She sticks out her tongue.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .

"Why don't we stop now and pick this up tomorrow?" Nanami finished playing the piano.

"Okay," Catarina replied.

"Wow!Look at the time .I should-" Eiji was inturrupted by Ichinose.

"Excuse me!"His sudden exclamation startled the other three."I'd like to keep practising today for as long as we can.Please stay with me." The bluenette bows to them. The three look and each other and break into a smile.

"Why not?" Catarina says. Eiji smiles ,"Sure." Nanami replies,"Okay."
Ichinose smiles at the trio, "Thank you."

The idol then points at the music sheets,"Could we start from here, then? I'd also like to modify the lyrics here, but what do you think? Also I'd like to turn this section into a refrain , and during the chorus- Oh,I'm sorry I'm just offering all my own opinions."

He's so passionate about music! Catarina smiles.

"It's fine.Tell us more,"At Eiji's words the two women nod. The STARISH singer couldn't but smile back.

Later Eiji and Ichinose had to stop their training because it was time for their work. Catarina and Nanami stayed there and completed the song.

"It's finished."Nanami smiles.

"Yes,"Catarina smiles back."I'm happy I had the opportunity to work with you. I learned many things."

"So did I,"Nanami looks down for a bit," Catarina-san ,to be honest, I am jealous of you." That took the other female aback.

Nanami continues,"When I learned that someone else will also write songs for STARISH, I couldn't help but become jealous.But now I'm glad that I got to work with you."

A grin forms in Catarina's face,"We're the same then since I feel the same about HEAVENS. But when I found out, I'll be working with you, it made me really happy." Nanami becomes happy at her words.

"Actually there's a reason why I was so looking forward to it," Catarina's blue eyes soften while the pink head becomes curious.

"Your song for HEAVENS at the UtaPri award,'HEAVENS GATE' saved me."
Confusion and curiosity flash through Nanami's eyes.

"That song gave me the strength and hope I needed. That was also my first time watching HEAVENS .It made me love HEAVENS. "

Hearing her reply, the timid composer smiled,"I'm glad to hear that, Catarina-san. "

"Eto...Nanami-san you are older than me so you don't have to be formal with me. Call me Catarina or any nicknames you'd like but not anything formal."

Nanami thinks about it,"Then Rina-Chan, you don't have to be formal with me either."

"Alright Haruka!"

Few days later the first part of the duet project was completed with the successful release of the song 'Mighty
Aura'.

                                        To Be Continued.