Chapter 149

In the short time that Bocchi and Kita weren't paying attention, Nijika had already become the daughter of the deserted island and the queen of the beach.

Kita only noticed Nijika's situation when she realized that Nijika, who had just been next to them, was gone and looked around.

Liang covered her mouth and looked at Nijika with a smile.

Meanwhile, Nijika, standing in the center, stared blankly as she held a walking stick.

She was draped in seaweed and wrapped in a seaweed skirt, with a bird's nest hanging from a vine draped over her shoulders. The bird's nest was filled with conches, small shrimps, and crabs, and a feather of unknown origin was stuck in her hair.

Standing on the sand, Nijika seemed to have truly emerged from a deserted island.

Beside her, Ishikawa Hayato was frantically taking pictures of her.

Kita was stunned for a long time when she saw this scene. After she came to her senses, she rushed over and shook Nijika's shoulders vigorously.

"Ijichi-senpai, wake up! You're going to get bullied to death if this keeps up!"

After being shaken for a while, Nijika came to her senses and, seeing her attire, immediately understood what was going on.

Soon, the sound of three people running for their lives could be heard on the beach.

Even on the way back, Nijika was still angry, crossing her arms and completely ignoring Ishikawa Hayato's pleas for forgiveness, who had deliberately sat down next to her.

As for Liang, she sat in front, silently wiping away her tears.

With a swollen bump on her head, she will be responsible for cleaning Starry Night's bathroom for the next week.

It took Nijika a long time to calm down.

But she still ignored Ishikawa Hayato and asked Bocchi, who was in the last row.

"Bocchi-chan, are you sure it's okay?"

Bocchi shifted her gaze from Ishikawa Hayato. She wasn't a pervert who stared at Ishikawa Hayato all day long; she was just curious how much longer he could keep talking.

After Nijika showed an angry expression, Ishikawa Hayato apologized using a variety of classic phrases, ranging from myths and fables to modern poetry, which amazed everyone.

It's only because Nijika has a good temper that she lets him read along; if it were anyone else, the car would have already exploded.

Bocchi asked, puzzled.

"What?"

Nijika asked with a hint of worry.

"A performance at a music festival."

Although she had already mentioned Bocchi once, Ishikawa Hayato had calmed her down that time. But recently, seeing how much fun Ishikawa Hayato was having, she was a little worried about Bocchi.

Bocchi hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Ah... um, no problem."

Nijika pressed on with her questions.

"Really? You're going to Shinjuku?"

"Hmm..."

Bocchi hesitated for a moment, Kita beside him looked worried.

But she still gritted her teeth and said, "Okay..."

Nijika reminded her again to prepare in advance.

There will be a lot of people this time.

Bocchi's pupils dilated, but he quickly calmed down.

"It doesn't matter..."

For some reason, Nijika felt relieved and encouraged Bocchi after hearing Bocchi assurance.

"Let's do our best then."

After Bocchi responded with a somewhat somber yet cheerful tone, Nijika turned back to Ishikawa Hayato and said...

"Hayato-kun, if you keep arguing, I won't forgive you."

Her words immediately silenced Ishikawa Hayato, who had been quietly chanting scriptures during their conversation.

Suddenly, the car fell silent.

After calming down, Nijika suddenly realized that their excessive playfulness earlier might have been another expression of the excitement they were hiding in their hearts.

She thought back to Bocchi's reaction earlier and couldn't help but wonder if Ishikawa Hayato had done that to cooperate with Ryo.

But she only thought about it for a moment before letting it go.

After all, she couldn't possibly understand Ishikawa Hayato's thoughts and actions without his explanation.

Pausing her thoughts, Nijika felt the atmosphere was perfect and couldn't help but set her expectations.

She reminded the four of them, "Everyone!"

The four of them immediately looked at her, and she said...

"Let's shine at the music festival and become a really famous band overnight!"

The next moment, the quiet carriage erupted in cheers and exclamations of admiration.

So-called hell training is training conducted with the belief that one will witness hell firsthand.

If it were some bands, they'd probably forget their purpose after only half a day and go off to heaven for tea.

But the Kessoku Band was different; even during this rigorous training, they could still happily play music and explore more musical possibilities.

Even so, after the five of them cobbled together a performance of "Summer Purgatory" out of nowhere.

They listened to the song, filled with trembling and despair, and remained silent.

For more than ten days, they practiced every morning, worked in the evening, and then practiced again until late at night after the performance.

They practiced day and night until there was only one day left before the rehearsal.

Listening to the scary music they had just recorded, the five realized the problem: even if they enjoyed practicing, the pressure would still build up if they kept doing the same thing.

After the song "Summer Purgatory" finished playing, Nijika, her face covered in cold sweat, looked at the four of them and discussed something.

"We're going on stage the day after tomorrow, so... how about everyone takes a day off?"

While the others were still hesitating, Liang, for reasons unknown, opened his phone and replayed <Summer Purgatory>.

Amidst the torrent of music at breakneck speed, Kita sang:

"Every day without seeing the sun, tomorrow..."

Kita hearing these embarrassing impromptu lyrics, Kita quickly went over and pressed the pause button.

She screamed.

"Rest! Please let me rest for a day."

Liang's actions seemed to indicate his approval of the break, and Nijika then asked the two who hadn't yet given their opinions.

"What do Hayato-kun and Bocchi-chan think?"

Bocchi glanced at Ishikawa Hayato, then quickly looked away.

"I think resting is good too..."

After she answered, Ishikawa Hayato spoke.

"Okay, everyone, let's adjust our mindset and prepare for tomorrow's rehearsal."

127. Afternoon

After deciding to take a break, the five of them quickly stopped practicing and packed up their instruments, without any intention of forcing themselves to continue.

Kita was the Kita most eager to pack up her instruments; she quickly put her guitar into its case.

Seeing that the others were still packing up, she took out her phone and began announcing her resurrection to her friends.

At that moment, it was as if countless pieces of information condensed into a visible beam of light in the eyes of the four people and converged on her phone.

The light startled Bocchi, who hid behind the wall.

After Kita's Yang energy erupted, Nijika, seeing her movements and remembering something important, spoke up shyly.

"Kita- chan, I just remembered, could you please send us the performance schedule as well?"

After suppressing his Kita for so long, Kita, finally free, waved his phone with a bright smile and a matter-of-fact expression.

"Such an important matter must have been announced long ago!"

"You're quite capable."

Liang glanced at her in surprise.

They were all thrilled to be able to participate in the music festival, and then they practiced continuously afterward.

In this situation, the Kita still remembered to manage the band's account is truly remarkable.

Ignoring Kita's Kita shouts, "Ryo-senpai, I did a great job, didn't I?" and Ryo's perfunctory response.

Ishikawa Hayato opened his phone and glanced at Kita's account.

Despite practicing every single day without stopping, she still updates her Instagram daily.

Ishikawa Hayato then opened the band's account.

Indeed, Kita had already posted the news that they were going to the music festival, and judging from the date, it was the very day they had just received the news.

Only...

Ishikawa Hayato looked at the comments below the announcement, sighed, and said to the others.

"However, it seems there's been a problem. Someone commented: 'Great, the band is still active! It's so good that it didn't turn into a beauty blog.'"

The two "too good"s in the comment fully express the commentator's relief.

The four of them stared blankly at Ishikawa Hayato, then their gazes shifted to Kita, who was staring blankly at his phone.

"Ah?"

After checking the comments on the Twitter post, Kita immediately covered his head and squatted down on the ground.

"Sorry!"

Seika couldn't bear to see how hard these people had been working lately, so when she heard they were planning to rest, she generously gave them a break.

That day, Ishikawa Hayato returned home before sunset, a rare occurrence for him, and was overjoyed to finally have dinner with his family.

However, this meal was anything but peaceful.

When Ishikawa Hayato sat down at the dinner table, I noticed that several of the dishes were his favorites.

The stewed meat looked extremely sweet, with a slightly sticky broth; the brightly colored sweet and sour eggplant; the mixed vegetables with a sweet salad; and the fried tofu with miso soup.

Perhaps the mother realized that they hadn't been eating dinner together much lately.

A while ago, after he told his family he would be coming home for dinner, he specially changed the dishes to all sweet ones, and Ishikawa Hayato was so touched that he stopped talking nonsense.

He kept saying how delicious it was.

However, he didn't notice the slightly displeased look in Ishikawa Hibiki's eyes.

After serving five dishes, Ishikawa Hibiki turned to his parents and expressed his dissatisfaction to his older brother beside him.

"My brother has been smelling a lot of girls lately."

Ishikawa Hayato was surprised; he himself couldn't smell any girl's scent on him.

He didn't know if Xiang was just talking nonsense or if he really smelled it.

If this is true, then it's the legendary "smell fatigue of happiness."

Ishikawa Hayato completely ignored her complaints and said cheerfully.

"After all, I'm very popular."

Seeing Ishikawa Hayato's shamelessness, Ishikawa Jinpei snorted coldly, his voice filled with the disdain and jealousy of the pure love party towards the harem party.