The sisters pulled up by the community center and got off the bicycle. Maria put a lock on it before waving her sister goodbye and walking away.

Elisa entered the backstage, while fixing her dark hair that had been messed up by the wind outside, and saw her teacher fiddling with a bundle of keys and trying each one.

“Oh, good morning, Elisa,” said the young man.

“Hey, prof. Here’s this month’s payment.” She said, handing him a twenty.

“Thank you.” He pocketed the money and opened the door “Let’s go over your warming exercises first.” He dragged a chair that was in the room’s corner and placed his bag on the table before sitting down.

“Ok”

The class went as it always did. Elisa did her warming exercises and then practiced her high notes. The teacher congratulated her on beating her record and reaching twenty seconds without her voice even quivering.

“Thank you…” she said, her tanned skin now red.

He took a few papers out of his bag and adjusted his glasses “The other teachers and I already chose the theme for this semester’s concert,” he said with an enthusiastic smile “We got some big sponsors this time. Including the PBF itself!”

“The PBF? Why would they fund a concert made by inexperienced teenagers and kids?”

“Well, our theme will be ‘the young and lost’ and they’re always like ‘the children are the future’ and pro pc culture and all that… They also seem to only recruit people below 30… Maybe they see this as an opportunity to hype up teens into enrolling in their organization?” he said, taking off his glasses. “Oh well. No point questioning a bunch of robots.”

“Don’t tell me you also believe in that rumor, teach,” she said in a disappointed tone.

“They’re either robots or cyborgs. Either way, my point still stands. No use questioning what their hive mind tells them to do.”

“With all due respect, the idea of them being robots is just ridiculous.”

“They sure walk and act like robots, though. But I’m not saying that they are bad or something of the sort, I’m just saying they aren’t real people, or at least don’t act like it. Yes, they might sound human, but there’s something behind those masks… I don’t know. It’s something without any actual will. Like a puppet.”

“Ok…”

“But anyway. We already assigned the songs. There.” He gave her two lyric sheets “This one requires a good pair of lungs like yours, so yeah, you’re the only one of our students that can actually pull this off. And the other fits your voice.”

“Ok…” A sparkle emerged in her eyes when she saw the songs’ titles.

“So yeah, we’ll go under concert regime starting next week. So, be sure to be here on time, ok?”

“Sundays at 10?”

“As always.”

(Later, at Elisa’s home)

The aspiring singer pressed the call icon and paced around her room, waiting for Daniel to pick up. 

Her attention shifted from her messy wardrobe to her laptop, sitting on an old desk decorated with stickers of her favorite bands, to her rich bookshelf filled with a healthy mix of fantasy, sci-fi, classic literature, and adventure.

“Hello?” Daniel whispered after two minutes of beeping.

“Hi! Hey, do you remember that black leather tuxedo dress with belts and zippers you used last Carnival?”

“Yes?” A growl was heard in the background “Calm down, we’ll be there soon...”

“Do you have a dog with you or something?” Weird, she didn’t remember him having any pets.

“I’m smuggling tigers.” he lied, sounding absolutely serious. 

“Ah, ok, got you. But anyway, do you think you can lend me that dress? They already decided on the theme for my school’s concert and think it would fit in.”

“Really? What are you guys singing? Heavy metal?” he chuckled.

“Nah, but--” She stopped talking, hearing what sounded like a heavy metal door being shut. 

“Look, I have to go now! But I’ll give you the dress on Monday at school, ok? Ok! Bye~” His voice faded, leaving her with an incessant beeping before she could respond.

“Ah... Ok.” She started wondering if he was actually kidding about the tigers or not...