The words leaped from Gotou Hitori's mouth before they even passed through her brain.
By the time she came to her senses, she was already walking to school with a boy she had only met yesterday.
She secretly glanced at Ishikawa Hayato beside her. His delicate yet not overly frail-looking face gleamed in the sunlight. He carried his schoolbag in one hand without seeming to mind its weight, and his pace had slowed as though matching hers.
A human! He's way too close!
Realizing that, she blinked blankly. The light vanished from her eyes as her thoughts rapidly sank into the depths of her consciousness.
As Ishikawa Hayato accompanied Gotou Hitori to school, he did not try to start a conversation. Rather, he had no chance to.
Because...
He watched Gotou Hitori beside him with great interest. She shuffled along like a zombie, muttering, "Ah... ahhh... ah..." with an utterly broken expression.
Now he understood why such a fair-skinned, pretty girl did not have a boyfriend.
Leaving aside her habit of hiding from people without a word, that expression alone was enough for him to turn into a stupid reaction meme.
At the entrance to the hallway inside the school building, Ishikawa Hayato stopped.
Zombie Gotou Hitori took two more steps before suddenly snapping back to her senses and stopping.
"Well then, let's part ways here. I hope everyone has a wonderful day."
Ishikawa Hayato smiled gently, then headed toward his classroom.
He was in no hurry to become close to Gotou Hitori. Talking to someone with social anxiety required the patience of navigating a maze. Besides, he only interacted with Gotou Hitori because she was interesting.
"Ah, thank you."
Watching Ishikawa Hayato turn and leave, Gotou Hitori's bright eyes were filled with confusion.
Why would he interact with someone like her?
He was clearly so handsome, and he seemed gentle and refined. He existed on an entirely different level from someone like her.
Even if it was for the band, he had plenty of other options, didn't he?
Gotou Hitori's expression twisted as her imagination began running wild.
Hmm, was he playing a game of truth or dare? Had the yakuza threatened him? Was he an actor her dad had paid for?
She couldn't think of anything...
She should... she should keep a little distance.
Thinking that, Gotou Hitori turned and headed for her classroom.
But the moment she turned around, her delicate face, still carrying a trace of worry, melted completely.
"Hehehe..."
"Hehe... a friend who walks to school with me... today's a good day... hehe."
Though she had no memory of ever walking to school with someone and had decided to keep a safe distance, it did nothing to stop her from floating on air. With a voice that startled the students passing by, she drifted into the classroom like a ghost.
Ishikawa Hayato pulled open the classroom door.
The students chatting loudly lowered their voices considerably after casually glancing over and seeing him enter.
A few of them wore openly exclusionary expressions, as if saying it was all his fault they could not have fun.
The atmosphere in the classroom immediately turned much colder.
But Ishikawa Hayato ignored it and walked to his seat. He took out a book from his schoolbag, sat cross-legged with a fresh smile, and leisurely began reading.
After the strange atmosphere was ignored for several seconds, it dissipated on its own.
Still, Ishikawa Hayato's behavior truly made some people even more annoyed.
"Morning~"
Not long after, Kita Ikuyo opened the classroom door as well, greeting her classmates with a sunny smile.
She looked a little listless today, but the smile on her face was even brighter. Slung over her back was an instrument case in white and orange.
Ishikawa Hayato looked up from his book, glanced at her, then looked away.
Oh~ As expected of a social butterfly. Her drive to act was impressive.
But she was still far behind him. A social terrorist could join a band without even bringing an instrument! She could even make the band pay to buy one.
Noticing Ishikawa Hayato's glance, Kita Ikuyo's expression turned a little serious. She stared straight at him with a look as though she wanted to challenge him.
But that expression vanished in an instant. Aside from Ishikawa Hayato, who had been stared at, everyone else only felt that Kita Ikuyo had briefly put away her smile.
Kita Ikuyo greeted her friends and, amid their surprised exclamations, pretended to be a guitarist who had learned long ago but never revealed it.
Hmph, I don't know what Ishikawa-kun's actual skill level is, but if he couldn't join the street performance, then Ryo-senpai definitely didn't approve of him.
And me, not only am I the crucial guitarist, I also have overwhelming skill from six years of practice without stopping, rain or shine.
Kita Ikuyo was already dreaming of overtaking everyone on the curve in the race to win over Ryo-senpai.
Yet she had already forgotten that she had only touched a guitar for the first time yesterday—and whether it had even been a guitar was another question altogether.
A social butterfly's exceptional speaking ability could even fool herself.
One Step
Even if she was deceiving herself, there would eventually come a time when she woke up.
Kita Ikuyo stood before STARRY's entrance, hesitating as she stared at the brass handle on the black door.
Only then did she remember that she could not play the guitar at all.
She shifted the guitar on her back, which she had impulsively bought because she was worried Ryo-senpai would be stolen away.
Her gaze immediately became a little more confident.
She had already practiced for a long time last night. As long as she kept working hard and spent more time honing her skills, she would definitely reach a level where she could perform with her seniors.
Besides, she had already done something so underhanded.
She could not hesitate over such a small matter.
"Akane-chan, I found a nice dessert shop. Let's go together today."
"Eh... Kita-chan, I'm on cleaning duty today."
"Trade with someone..." Kita Ikuyo said coquettishly.
"Okay, okay... who should you trade with?"
Akane reluctantly agreed. After responding, she turned her gaze toward the students beside her, looking for someone she could switch cleaning duty with.
"How about Ishikawa-kun? He looks like he has time."
Kita Ikuyo, who had planned this all along, grabbed Akane's hand and pulled her toward Ishikawa Hayato, who was about to leave.
"...No way."
Akane sighed weakly as Kita Ikuyo dragged her along.
When they reached Ishikawa Hayato, Kita Ikuyo put on an adorably troubled expression and pressed her hands together as she pleaded with him.
"Ishikawa-kun, could you please switch cleaning duty with my friend for one day? Please."
After saying that, she lightly bumped Akane with her shoulder in a pleading gesture.
"Please, Ishikawa-kun."
Akane asked without much hope.
"No problem. Then Tanaka will handle next Tuesday's cleaning duty."
Ishikawa Hayato agreed readily, so quickly it seemed like he had not even thought about it.
Tanaka Akane had not expected Ishikawa Hayato to agree so readily. After a moment of surprise, she smiled a little.
"Thank you~"
Afterward, Kita Ikuyo and Tanaka Akane went to have dessert. When it was around the time Ryo-senpai and her friends usually arrived at STARRY, she parted with Akane and quickly rushed to STARRY.
At this time, cleaning duty should have only just ended. Ishikawa-kun would not be here.
She was a little worried Ishikawa Hayato would stop her from joining the band. After all, she had called him that yesterday, and judging by his interactions with Ryo-senpai, perhaps he intended to date her.
And she had stared at him for so long yesterday. Maybe he had already vaguely noticed.
She did not want someone else to take away the person she admired.
So she used a little trickery and hurried to join their band.
She really was terrible.
But Kita Ikuyo did not regret it. She reached out and pulled open STARRY's door.
Ryo and Nijika sat at a table chatting, while the owner, Seika, sat by the counter spacing out. But after Kita Ikuyo entered, all of them looked at her in confusion.
Under their puzzled gazes, Kita Ikuyo walked down the stairs.
Before Seika could say that the place was not open yet, she said,
"Ryo-senpai, I heard before that you were recruiting band members. Yesterday, I heard your performance and was deeply moved. Please let me join too."
Gotou Hitori curled up in the cornermost seat of a not-too-crowded train car, her head lowered and her gaze fixed on the space before her feet.
Though trains were places with a lot of people, almost no one paid attention to their surroundings here.
Most people found something to do during this long, boring stretch of time.
That let Gotou Hitori relax a little.
At the same time, like everyone else, she was lost in thought.
Looking back over today, one name had become the word she thought of most often.
Ishikawa Hayato.
Besides seeing him in the morning, she had also seen him at noon.
During lunch break, Gotou Hitori quietly slipped out of the classroom without drawing anyone's attention.
She quickly made her way to the stairwell at the very edge of the building. After glancing around and confirming no one was looking this way, she swiftly darted into a corner piled with desks and chairs.
Sitting in the dark, cramped space, Gotou Hitori let out a sigh of relief.
Huh, strange. Why couldn't she relax?
She looked around in confusion. The discarded desks and chairs enclosed this place into a corner invisible from outside. A tiny amount of indistinct light spilled down from the stairwell overhead, but she had deliberately avoided sitting in it.
No one should be able to see her.
Gotou Hitori had clearly forgotten yesterday's promise, yet her body had instinctively brought her here. At the same time, she was still nervous.
Tap, tap.
The sound of someone knocking on the wall rang out, followed by a familiar voice.
"Is Gotou-san here?"
"Yes."
After Gotou Hitori answered almost instinctively, her memories of yesterday's lunch break suddenly surfaced.
"Can I come find you here again in the future?"
Before you continue