Chapter 104
He said.
"Um, there's something I need to say."
The girls all turned to look at Ishikawa Hayato at once.
Ishikawa Hayato looked at their different but equally pleased eyes, deliberately sniffed, and then spoke.
"Actually, I've been smelling it since the beginning. Hmm, everyone smells quite nice even with their sweat on them. Or rather, the sweat carries their natural body odor."
In an instant, apart from Bocchi, who was still unable to run, the other three's expressions changed, and they immediately avoided this freak.
Seeing Bocchi's expression change, Nijika quickly went over, grabbed her arms with both hands, and pulled her out of danger.
The atmosphere became awkward for a moment. Kita glanced at Ishikawa Hayato, who was carrying a pile of things without batting an eye, sighed, and walked towards him, saying something as he did so.
"Ishikawa-kun, you'd better move the instruments properly."
"This already constitutes sexual harassment."
Ryo glanced at Kita, then walked back while grumbling.
Nijika slowly walked over, muttering a complaint under her breath.
"I really can't stand Hayato-kun. He always does this when things are going so well."
Yes, that's right.
Listening to the girls' soft complaints around him, Ishikawa Hayato smiled slightly.
90. Followers
Although Ishikawa Hayato knew that the other party would catch up with him, he never expected them to arrive so quickly.
Friday evening.
After their rehearsal, they came out of the rehearsal room together, ready to begin their work.
On weekends, STARRY hosts performances by bands carefully selected by the Seika. Just how carefully selected?
Ishikawa Hayato had the privilege of witnessing Seika auditioning other bands' demo tracks, and it's safe to say he was incredibly arrogant and unpretentious.
When there isn't a suitable band, she sometimes prefers to keep the place quiet and run a bar, offering the stage for small bands to rehearse for free, rather than putting on a live show.
This commitment to quality over quantity has indeed earned the restaurant an excellent reputation among customers.
It gets quite crowded on weekends too.
Ishikawa Hayato carefully wiped every corner, cleaning up any remaining drink stains from the previous night.
If a single wash isn't enough to remove it, then it's stubborn grime. It might be difficult for others, but for Ishikawa Hayato...
Don't force me to take the land with me!
We cleaned it all the way out from the very corner.
He looked up casually when he could see the bar, and his gaze lingered there.
Inside the bar, Bocchi, holding a rag, opened the various beverage machines to clean them, as the inside of the machines easily attracts insects.
But who is this person?
Bocchi! The bane of Bug and Ghost types!
Despite saying that, Bocchi's eyes looked extremely serious as she meticulously cleaned with the rag.
Her seriousness seemed to go beyond the level of work; it was more like she was protecting something she loved.
People tend to find solace in objects.
Just like the pavilion where I often meet with close friends, so too is this shop.
Before we knew it, the band had been together for over a month.
Although everyone often didn't work in unison and frequently made a mess of things, the knowing smiles that followed the chaos were quite amusing.
Kita dragged the floorboards past him.
Ishikawa Hayato recalled what PA-san had done before, and he said to Kita.
"Kita, can I smell it?"
"Ishikawa-kun, can you please stop being a pervert while you're working?"
She seemed to have gotten used to Ishikawa Hayato's perverted behavior, her smile still carrying a hint of disdain as she mopped the floor.
Ishikawa Hayato, in a dramatic mood, grabbed his outstretched hand, looking as if he was about to lose control, and cried out urgently.
"But I'm running out of perverted energy! I need to do something perverted, Kita- chan, I can only ask you for help now."
Kita stopped mopping the floor, leaned on the mop, looked at him, and complained.
"Didn't they already go through all that perversion last night?"
"Not enough, I want more!"
Kita sighed helplessly, and just as she was about to say something, her eyes turned towards the bar, but she quickly looked away.
"Hayato-kun, get back to work!"
Ishikawa Hayato abandoned his posture and clicked his tongue.
"Tsk, Kita isn't as cute as she used to be. Looks like I need to gather some information to make her submit."
Kita seemed to have developed resistance, and said with a smile in his bluish-yellow eyes.
"Once Ishikawa-kun has collected too many, I'll call the police and have them delete them."
Ishikawa Hayato smiled dismissively, as if nothing could stop him anymore.
"Even if the FBI comes, they can't delete it, I'm telling you!"
After giving Kita reply, Kita picked up the mop again and started mopping the floor.
"Yes, yes, Ishikawa-kun, don't be lazy."
By the time Ishikawa Hayato wiped the wall behind the bar, Nijika had finished her inventory. She crawled out from under the bar, resting her arms on the bar to support her leaning upper body.
Holding a statistics notebook and pen in hand, he gave his daily warning.
"Hayato-kun, I've already told you not to disturb others while you're working. If I catch you doing this again, I'll report you to my sister."
"Okay~ Next time I'll only bother Nijika."
Nijika remained expressionless, but she was helpless against him.
Ishikawa Hayato laughed it off and brushed it off.
Although Nijika often threatened Ishikawa Hayato Jun with reporting her, she never actually did.
Her gentleness made him want to take advantage of her.
Finally, we got to the front desk. Liang finished early and sat down to relax.
Logically speaking, she should have overheard Ishikawa Hayato Kita's Kita. Although she had often opposed their interactions before, she didn't say anything this time.
She sat upright in the chair, her hands by her sides, and spoke to Ishikawa Hayato, who was checking for stains.
"Meet at Iketora Station at 8 a. m. tomorrow."
"I understand, but so early?"
"Mm." Liang nodded.
Ishikawa Hayato wiped the dust off the legs of the reception desk, as the basement was prone to accumulating dust. He then glanced at the cool black pantyhose.
She always wears tights with her school uniform, even now that the weather is quite hot.
However, it's noticeable that her pantyhose has become much thinner. Originally, her flesh color was only visible when she bent her legs, but now her skin color is partially visible from the upper part of her calves to the rounded part of her thighs.
Her extremely long legs, encased in pantyhose, accentuated the beauty of her leg curves, giving her a mature and sophisticated look.
At this moment, Liang moved her left leg slightly to the right, raised her right leg, and placed it on top of her left leg.
She asked.
Have you seen enough?
Does this mean we can proceed to the next step?
Ishikawa Hayato looked up at the young woman who still retained a cute demeanor.
Liang calmly reached out and pressed her hand against his face, pushing his face to the side.
The slightly cool touch and soft palms felt wonderful.
Ishikawa Hayato stopped looking at her and then stood up.
Just as he was about to walk into the shop, Seika came down from upstairs. She had just gone up to change the signboard.
She glanced at Ishikawa Hayato ahead and asked him.
Is the dehumidifier on?
"Yes, it's open."
"That's enough cleaning. Some customers have complained to me that you've ruined the atmosphere of the store."
"The store manager actually felt sorry for me, I'm so touched."
"Who cares about you!"
The two of them came down the stairs, half arguing, and Liang followed them down.
It wasn't time to open yet, and they planned to chat casually by the bar as usual.
However, the three people below had already started having a very unusual conversation.
For some reason, Bocchi hid in the trash can again and began to meditate and chant scriptures.
Kita looked embarrassed; it was clearly something she had caused again.
However, the others understood that Kita's casual remarks were a barrage of insults at Bocchi.
"What is it now?" Ishikawa Hayato asked helplessly.
He was only gone for a short while and it's already like this.
Kita answered him quite naturally.
We were just talking about skincare...
"That, that, that!"
Upon hearing this, Bocchi hurriedly crawled out of the trash can and waved his hands repeatedly in front of Kita, begging her not to say anything.
Watching this scene, Ishikawa Hayato heard Seika murmur softly behind him.
"Bocchi-chan is so cute."
Regardless of this woman who, nearing 30, still loved cute things, he went over and patted Bocchi on the shoulder.
"It's alright, nothing's wrong."
To avoid making Bocchi nervous, Nijika changed the subject by taking out her phone and excitedly showing it off.
"Everyone! The video of our street performance last night has already reached 4,000 views!"
After she finished speaking, she looked smugly at Seika, who had previously told her that "playing in a band for a lifetime is just playing house."
"How about that, sis? Pretty impressive, right?"
"Yes, yes," Seika replied perfunctorily before heading backstage.
Her reaction made Nijika puff out her cheeks in anger.
Ishikawa Hayato was actually a little dissatisfied; the number of views was too low. He was used to seeing millions or tens of millions of views before.
Liang walked over, glanced at him, and said to Nijika.
"I watched the video too. We didn't even include our original song; otherwise, the number of views would definitely be higher."
"Um!"