Chapter 123

This was the first time Kita had ever called a member of the opposite sex by their first name like this. Although he often heard other members of the band call them that, he felt inexplicably excited at this moment.

Calling my boyfriend's name made me feel much closer to him again.

But before she could even utter a sound, Ishikawa Hayato, on the other side, was also ready and responded in a low voice.

"Ikuyo."

This sound struck Kita, who was already feeling incredibly Kita where it hurt. Her body stiffened, her eyes widened, and then her pupils became a blur.

"Foul! Foul! How can you call my name like that at a time like this!"

Kita shook her head and waved her hands in a panic, her neatly combed red hair bouncing, but she couldn't hide her panic. She turned her back and covered her face with her small hands.

Having rarely been called by name, this was the first time she had heard her own name from someone else, and it didn't feel so funny.

"Ikuyo, what a lovely name."

Ishikawa Hayato stepped forward and leaned against her from behind.

"Wait, wait! Stop! Stop!"

Kita felt she would break if she kept being called, so she quickly turned around to stop Ishikawa Hayato.

Ishikawa Hayato saw it clearly now. Kita, with an exaggerated smile that he couldn't contain, waved one hand in front of him, trying to stop Ishikawa Hayato from continuing, while trying to cover his face with the other hand.

Seeing her like this, Ishikawa Hayato couldn't help but smile.

He respectfully put his hands together and said.

"So cute, thank you so much! Spending time with Kita today has filled my cuteness gauge for ten years. I hope to spend Kita and fill my cuteness gauge for the next ten lifetimes."

"Don't say that to me!" Kita, squatting down and covering her face in embarrassment and anger.

After Kita's shy cry, only Ishikawa Hayato's two satisfied chuckles rang out.

As his emotions calmed down a bit, he took a deep, enjoyable breath. Even in such terrible weather, the humid air still made him feel comfortable.

He looked up at the sky; the accumulated clouds were moving about.

Ishikawa Hayato thought to himself.

Why is the sky gloomy? Because the bright sun has sunk below the horizon.

After a moment, he felt that Kita's emotions had almost recovered, and he stretched out his hand towards the bright sun on the ground.

"Kita, it's almost time to go to Starry."

After a few seconds, Kita responded sullenly.

"Um..."

She slowly reached out and grabbed Ishikawa Hayato's hand, using it to stand up.

But even after standing up, Ishikawa Hayato didn't let go of her hand, and she didn't say anything, leading him towards the stairs.

However, when they reached the top of the stairs, she pulled her hand away.

Looking at the staircase, which was even darker than the rooftop, and the direction they were headed, Kita clearly sensed that no matter how close they got, they could never maintain that distance forever.

"Ishikawa-kun, please don't be too good to me, it will make me very painful when we break up."

She said in a deep voice.

"Really? But my goal has always been a harem, so not breaking up isn't a problem."

"A heartless scumbag."

Kita cursed aloud, but in her heart she was thinking, "Ishikawa-kun means he's paying back for her swimming lessons, right?"

Hmm... I need to go buy a swimsuit.

107. Water Splash

After meeting up with Bocchi, who had been waiting, the three of them headed towards the stars together.

Before they even reached the shop entrance, the heavy rain started. Fortunately, they were only two steps away from the eaves, and they made it there in time.

When they arrived at the store, Nijika and Liang were already waiting inside.

As soon as they stepped off the stairs into the lobby, the three heard Liang's calm, disgruntled voice.

"So slow, where did you guys go to play?"

Seeing his chance to shine, Ishikawa Hayato quickly covered the mouths of the two girls beside him.

He stopped and said with an expression of pride that said, "You don't need to praise me for this."

"As members of the Extraordinary Team, we have just encountered a being attempting to destroy the world, and we fought it bravely..."

"Alright, Hayato-kun, please come and sit down."

Nijika sighed and interrupted his seemingly endless long speech, patting the table and urging him to hurry up.

"Unfortunately, the best part is yet to come. I'd like to describe in more detail the scene where Bocchi bravely stood up when everyone was in despair."

Ishikawa Hayato walked down the path with a look of regret.

"Eh!!"

Upon hearing his own name, Bocchi gasped softly in surprise.

The five of them sat together around the table again; it had been a while since they had chatted so leisurely.

Although he is a musician, he still couldn't escape the pressure of studying for exams.

Aside from when they were working, they haven't gathered together much lately.

Nijika looked at everyone gathered together, clapped her hands with a smile, and said cheerfully.

"Final exams are finally over, now let's get back to band activities!"

"Please feel free to share any suggestions you may have regarding future band activities."

"Me!" Ishikawa Hayato was the first to raise his hand.

"Okay, Hayato-kun do you want to say?" Nijika gestured to him with satisfaction.

"I'd like to begin by explaining our own situation."

As Ishikawa Hayato spoke, he walked familiarly to a corner of the store and, in front of Nijika, dragged the whiteboard over as if it were his own home, while Nijika looked on with an expression that suggested she didn't know how to complain.

He drew on it as he spoke.

"First of all, everyone needs to be clear about our strengths and weaknesses."

"For example, I've found that we perform better when the atmosphere is lively, which is evident in the latter half of both street performances and in-store shows."

"On the contrary, when the atmosphere is cold, our skill level is only at the level we usually practice, and it may even be worse when we are affected."

Nijika glanced nervously at the others; she hadn't expected Ishikawa Hayato to so openly reveal this whole thing.

However, contrary to her expectations, everyone listened attentively and did not dwell on the previous defeat.

"This shows that we are not the type of people who practice haphazardly and only perform when there's a show, but rather the type who actively seek out more performances and hone their skills through those performances."

"The last less-than-perfect performance was a valuable experience, like the growing pains someone who hasn't been exercising much experiences on their first day. Now we can start running boldly."

Hearing Ishikawa Hayato's words implying that they should prepare for the upcoming performance as soon as possible, Nijika hurriedly tried to dissuade them.

"Hayato-kun, isn't this a bit too hasty?"

Ishikawa Hayato understood Nijika's thoughts perfectly. After suffering a series of failures, she planned to take a breather and let everyone relax before starting to look for performance opportunities again.

"No, this is just right."

Before Ishikawa Hayato could even speak, Ryo rejected Nijika's idea.

She said.

"What we need now is not rest, but recognition. There are many performance opportunities in the summer, and we can't let them go to waste."

Nijika glanced at Liang, then at the others.

It was discovered that although Kita and Bocchi didn't say anything, their expressions were just like Ryo's.

She realized that she had worried too much and had become a burden to the team.

However, she didn't mind at all, and instead smiled happily.

"Then!" With a bright smile, she pulled a poster out of her bag.

He held it up high and showed it to the four people.

Let's go to the Circuit Festival this summer!

The four of them stared blankly at Nijika. Her attitude changed so quickly; they felt like they were about to break their necks.

The three then looked at Ishikawa Hayato, suspecting that the two had secretly conspired to set a trap for them.

Ishikawa Hayato met the three men's gazes with a shocked expression. He shook his head, indicating that it had nothing to do with him.

After Liang learned that it was Nijika's own idea, he complained to Nijika.

"Nijika is such a hassle, does she want to go to the performance or not?"

Nijika quickly expressed her stance.

"Of course I want to go!"

Ishikawa Hayato looked at the slightly wrinkled poster in Nijika's hand and the neat creases on it and speculated.

"Could it be that you hid under the covers in the middle of the night looking at the poster, thinking about participating, but then worried about what others would think, and finally reluctantly folded the poster neatly and stuffed it into your bag?"

Guh.

Inside the shop, all four of them clearly heard Nijika cough.

After her expression froze, Nijika quickly smiled, her eyes crinkling into a smile that revealed no color.

"Hayato-kun."

"Um?"

"Shut up."

'She actually guessed right, no wonder she's a pervert.' The three onlookers thought to themselves as they watched Nijika's reaction, but then they heard Ishikawa Hayato say something shamelessly.

"I didn't do anything wrong. You want me to shut up? You have to give me a kiss and a hug."

The four girls' gazes lingered on his face for a moment, and all of them except for Bocchi sighed in unison.

Kita quite interested in this kind of activity, and she asked curiously.

"Ijichi-senpai, can we participate in this Circuit Festival as well?"

She still remembers the time when the audience criticized the nameless band.

"It's okay. This is a stage for young bands like us to showcase our talents. Just record your performance and send it in. As long as it's not too bad, it should be approved."

He said it in a flat, indifferent tone.

"If it's not too bad..." Kita felt a sinking feeling in her heart as she thought of the performance that exploded that day.

Upon hearing her words, Liang's expression turned serious, as if he had also considered the consequences of failure, and he spoke without any restraint.

"How about we use a pre-recorded audio track to get away with it?"

Bocchi, who was extremely nervous, nodded repeatedly like a chick pecking at rice, as if he had seen a savior.

"Ah, okay!"

Even Kita seemed interested.

Nijika stared at the scene in a daze for a long time before she came to her senses and loudly complained.

"Don't you have any self-respect as musicians?!"

"This will expose us during rehearsals! Hayato-kun, you'd better help stop them then!"

Ishikawa Hayato didn't care about the scene; he was secretly delighted.

He suppressed a laugh and said with a serious expression.