Backstage in Neon Harem always smelled like perfume, sweat, and electrical wiring.
Cheap lights buzzed overhead, makeup bags were scattered across couches, and half-empty drinks stood abandoned on every surface.
But tonight, the atmosphere was different.
Verosika wasn't pacing because of nerves.
Not because of excitement.
Even because she had just killed a performance.
She was pacing because of him.
Her bassist, Minca, leaned against the wall, arms crossed.
"…You're doing that thing again," she said.
"What thing?" Verosika snapped back too quickly.
"That thing where you pretend you're not bothered but your tail is shaking like a dying neon sign."
Verosika froze.
Her tail was indeed twitching.
Shit.
Her drummer, Kordel, chimed in from the couch, chewing on a candy stick:
"She saw someone in the crowd.
I'm telling you.
It's either a crush or a bounty."
Verosika threw a hairbrush at him.
"It's NOT a crush!"
"So a bounty," he said smugly, dodging.
Minca sighed.
"Just tell us, V. You look like you saw a ghost."
Verosika took a long breath.
Then another.
Then she collapsed onto the chair like someone who had been fighting her own thoughts for hours.
"…Okay," she muttered.
"Fine. I'll say it."
The band leaned in.
"There was someone in the audience last time," she said carefully.
"And today… I saw him again."
Kordel grinned.
"Knew it."
"Shut up," she hissed.
"It's not like that."
Minca raised a brow.
"Then what's he like?"
Verosika drummed her fingers on her knee.
How did she even explain this?
"He's… strange," she said quietly.
"Not powerful. Not flashy. Not some Overlord-wannabe."
"Ugly?" Kordel guessed.
She glared.
"He's not ugly."
"Handsome?"
"Shut. Up."
Kordel threw his hands up.
Minca smirked.
Verosika exhaled, frustrated.
"It's not his face. It's the way he stands.
The way he watches.
Way the air around him feels cleaner than the whole damn district."
Minca blinked.
"…Cleaner? Here?"
"I KNOW," Verosika snapped.
"It doesn't make sense."
"He got an aura?" Kordel asked.
"It's not an aura," she muttered.
Like… like he doesn't fit.
At all.
He's carved from something different."
Minca tapped her chin.
"Is he dangerous?"
Verosika paused.
Her tail stopped mid-flick.
"…Yes. No. I don't know."
Kordel laughed.
"You're losing it."
"Shut up!"
She rubbed her temples.
"It's not that he's dangerous. It's that he COULD be. I can't read him.
I read everyone. But him?"
She raked her fingers through her hair.
"He's quiet in a way that's loud."
Minca and Kordel exchanged looks.
"…You think he's stalking you?" Minca asked.
"No," Verosika said quickly.
Then less quickly:
"I don't think so."
Kordel leaned forward.
"…Is he at least hot?"
"KORDEL."
"What!? I need context!"
Verosika groaned into her hands.
"Look, I don't KNOW who he is.
I only know he doesn't belong to Lust Ring and he's not from any of the big families."
Minca blinked.
"How do you know?"
"Trust me," Verosika said with cold certainty.
"I know nobles. He's not one of them."
"Mercenary?" Kordel guessed.
"Doesn't move like one."
"Gang boss?"
"Too calm."
"Pimp?"
"OH FOR!"
She threw a bottle at him.
Kordel ducked, laughing.
Minca put a hand on Verosika's shoulder, grounding her.
"V," she said softly.
"Do you think… he's trouble?"
Verosika didn't answer immediately.
She thought about his eyes.
Calm. Detached.
Seeing straight through crowds, lights, noise.
Seeing straight through her.
She shivered.
"Not trouble," she whispered.
"…But something I don't understand."
Kordel whistled.
"Okay, now I'm interested."
Minca nodded.
"And you want to know more."
Verosika didn't deny it.
Because it was true.
Deeply, annoyingly true.
"…Just keep it quiet," she muttered, standing up again.
"If word gets out that I'm asking about someone, people will think it's a scandal."
Kordel grinned.
"Could be fun."
"I will murder you."
"Worth it."
Verosika rubbed her forehead.
She couldn't shake the feeling.
That man whoever he was wasn't a fan.
Wasn't a creep a drunk or predictable.
He was something else.
And Verosika Mayday had learned one thing in this business:
Unknown things were either opportunities… or disasters waiting to happen.
But she was going to find out which.
Even if she had to tear the Lust Ring upside down to learn his name.