Versatile Superstar: Rise In Hollywood

“How’s everything going on? You are working nonstop these days.”

Uncle Sam’s words hit his ears as Aiden looked outside the window of the moving van. He could see buildings flashing by.

“Most of the things are fine. Things are always hectic after a song release. I learned it during ‘Lonely’ promotions. It’s important to promote the song for it to do well.”

Aiden said, thinking of the music charts. 

“I’m playing the song in my restaurant everyday and even asking some customers to stream it on Melody. I’m pretty sure it will do better on charts soon.”

“Thanks for that and it’s doing well on the charts. We already crossed 10 million views on MeTube. It’s in 11th on the charts too which is a big thing for an anime title track.” 

Aiden said. It was true that they were doing pretty well for their standard but most of the media attention was on Imagine Giants new song.

The song titled ‘Natural Habits’ was number one in most charts in the last one week. Both the songs were released at the same time, so the difference between them was indeed depressing.

“I don’t think you are the type to be satisfied by that. You always have big ambitions even if you don’t show it.”

Aiden couldn’t help but laugh hearing that. His uncle knew him very well.

“Yeah, I know. I’m hoping after the performance in Anime con, the song can improve its ranking and views. There will be thousands of people there and Animeroll has worked hard to get us a good stage.”

“Are you on the way?”

“Yeah.” Aiden glanced at Wade who was driving the car. It was still early morning and they were already on their way. “Do you want anything from there?”

There was no reply for a second and after that, Uncle Sam replied in a quirky tone._.

“Ah, yeah! There will be lots of people selling vintage games. Try to buy some for me. I will add them to my collections.”

“You always want video games.”

“When something else interests me, I will want it too. Anyway, I will put the phone away now. Good luck with your performance and call your mom sometimes. She gets worried.”

“Okay.”

Aiden cut the call and sighed. It was then that Emily poked his cheeks to grab his attention.

“That was your uncle?” She asked, tilting her head.

“Yeah, he was asking about the song and other things.”

“He looks cool.”

“He is.”

Aiden simply replied that and Emily nodded. At the same time, Jackson who was sitting ahead of him turned his head back and asked.

“Hey Aiden, what even happens in Anime conventions?”

“They are pretty much the same as video game conventions. They just focus on anime or manga with a lot of people cosplaying their favourite characters. People also install their stalls to sell stuff like old video games or fan made mangas and novels.”

“Sounds pretty fun.” Jackson said, then tilted his head. “Do you think we should have cosplayed too? I’m pretty sure I will look great in the getup of an anime protagonist. Cameron here can be a villain. He has the face to pull it off.”

Cameron glared at Jackson’s mocking words. Before Aiden could reply, Wade, who was driving the car, opened his mouth.

“We are here!”

***

“There’s a lot of people here.”

Jackson couldn’t help but mutter when he entered the convention. The whole sight in front of them was filled with people of all ages and gender.

On the walls, there were posters of famous anime alongside the list of events that they could experience here. A lot of famous manga artists and voice actors from Japan were going to attend the event.

“Conventions are always like this.” 

Wade said, looking over to a group of cosplayers. Besides them, there was a guy with red hair and a plastic sword in his hand. On the right, there was a female blogger who was shooting her experience in the convention for views.

There were even people dressed in beastman costumes, covered in head to toe.

‘I really wonder if they don’t feel heat in those.’

Aiden thought as he walked towards the area that the Animeroll team had occupied. As one of the leading anime dubbing companies, they were also a part of the organising committee for the convention.

“Hey, Aiden. I thought I wouldn’t enjoy it much here but it seems like I was wrong.” Jackson suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and said.

“What made you change your mind?”

“Look there.”

Jackson pointed at a group of calls who were taking selfies. They were wearing pretty short costumes and had attached animal ears on their heads, giving them a cute and sexy look.

“I can see why you like it here.”

Aiden said while Jackson smirked while wondering if he should talk to those girls. Like that, they walked up to the Anime roll stand at the convention.

Some staff members quickly walked towards them with a guy who looked like he hadn’t slept in a long time leading them. Emily even joked that he had cosplayed as a zombie.

“You all are finally here. You are pretty early.” The guy said, shaking hands with everyone. 

“I was told to come here first thing in the morning.” Wade said, then looked besides the guy. “Is everything already set up?”

“We have gotten all the instruments required for the performance but we want to start it at 4 PM as most people will be here at that time. The stage is already set, so you all just need to start your performance by that time.”

The guy explained.

Wade and he talked for a few more minutes and it seemed like they were free to roam around the convention till then.

Cameron just left saying he would try to see if there was anything that interested him here and Jackson left to hit on girls. Emily also left saying she would buy some stuff for her family.

‘I have three hours. Maybe I should buy some games for Uncle Sam.’

Aiden thought that and walked towards the area where there were a lot of stalls selling games.

On the way, he countered a lot of people wearing mascot costumes and video games. There was one guy looking like the main character from ‘Legend of Welda’ and another guy wearing an electric mouse costume.

As he got closer to the stalls, he was able to hear people selling stuff like salesmen.

“You should try out this game for you. You can kill people without a care and it’s even the premium version! You hate your boss in real life. Think of him as a zombie and kill him in the game. Hundred percent effective method!”

“I’m selling a graphic novel about superheroes for 15 dollars. You will get Pikamon Moon for free if you three.”

“Old, vintage games for sale. You won’t find this stuff anywhere else. Rush now. They are collector’s versions.”

Aiden went towards the third stall and picked up some vintage games for his uncle. Most of them had been released around the early 2000s but their plot was still very good. The only problem one could have was controls and graphics.

‘With this, Uncle Sam would be happy.’

Just as he thought that, he suddenly heard a familiar voice. He looked over to see Emily surrounded by a guy who was holding her hand.

‘Does she know him?’

He thought, seeing that guy had a bright smile on his face but when he looked over at Emily, she looked very uncomfortable, like she didn’t like the situation she was in.

“Emily, are you okay?” 

Aiden quickly ran towards her. When she saw him, she calmed down and stood beside him. He glanced at the black haired guy in front of him.

“Who are you?”

“I’m just a fan of hers. I’ve been following her since X-Star days. I know you too. You appeared in the competition.”

The guy said, still giving out the same smile like he had done nothing wrong. But seeing Emily’s face, Aiden was sure that something had happened.

“I don’t think she’s comfortable.”

“I just want a selfie. I don’t think it’s a lot to ask for when I’m her fan.” 

The guy tried to push around his narrative. But Aiden was never a pushover. He wondered what he should do before closing his eyes and thinking of the character of Kai.

Thanks to his skills, the characters he had played were still in his mind. He was even able to access them whenever he wanted.

When he thought of Kai, his vibes suddenly changed and his voice became a bit more serious.

“Move away.”

He simply said those words and the effect was self explanatory. The guy gulped seeing the scary expression on Aiden’s face and quickly ran away without stopping.

Now that they were alone, Aiden turned towards Emily after returning to normal.

He felt a bit exhausted for some reason, like he was not himself for a second.

“What did he do?” 

“He just came out of nowhere, saying he’s a fan. I was okay at first but he seemed weird and suddenly held my hand. I was just about to scream when you came.”

Emily still looked a bit uncomfortable but took a sigh of relief. 

“We should tell the authorities about him. He doesn’t seem good.” 

“No, it’s fine. I have dealt with fans like these before. Let’s just return to Wade and wait till our performance.”

Aiden didn’t say anything at that and just nodded his head. They returned to Wade but on the entire way, there was a grim, brooding feeling in his heart.