Seika immediately understood the situation, then spoke helplessly.
"You need to decide quickly..."
The four sat around the table. Nijika crossed her arms, closed her eyes, and pondered deeply.
"A band name is really important."
"Anything is fine."
That was what Ryo said, propping her head up with both hands and half-closing her sleepy eyes. From the moment the topic came up, she had looked completely uninterested. Now, she looked like she was about to fall asleep.
Hearing such incomprehensible words, Nijika loudly objected in agitation.
"How can you say that?!"
Ishikawa Hayato was rather curious about how they had ended up with the name Kessoku Band. At the same time, he wondered whether his arrival would change the band name through the butterfly effect.
With great interest, he secretly observed the others.
Whenever the conversation had nothing to do with performing, Kita Ikuyo regained her composure. She tapped her chin, tilted her head slightly upward, and thought seriously.
Unable to stand Nijika's noise any longer, Ryo half-squinted and looked at the thoughtful expressions of the people around her.
Finding it troublesome, her gaze wandered around until she spotted a cable tie on a wire in the corner of the shop.
Her brain seemed to spark to life in an instant.
"Cable tie. Kessoku Band."
Her eyes lit up, and a sly, smug smile appeared on her face.
Nijika: ???
"Kessoku means unity, right? Ryo-senpai, that's amazing!"
Kita Ikuyo, who blindly praised Ryo, immediately gave Ryo's suggestion a perfect score. The perfect score came first; the answer came afterward.
"No, no, that's a pun."
Nijika hurriedly waved her hands to remind Kita Ikuyo.
She did not want such an important band name to become something like a corny joke.
"I see! So it's a joke too~ That's amazing."
Kita Ikuyo spoke to Nijika with a dazzlingly radiant smile.
Kita!
'Magical Girl' Kita radiated a brilliant light.
Although they were both cheerful girls of the same type, Nijika still could not withstand that sparkling Kita energy.
"Kita-chan, stop!"
Nijika wailed as she struggled to shield herself from that force with her hands.
After enduring it, her clothes were disheveled. With tears in her eyes, she turned helplessly toward Ishikawa Hayato, the only one who could stand by her side.
Looking at Nijika's pitiful expression, Ishikawa Hayato opened his mouth several times but could not bring himself to say anything.
But as a pervert, Ishikawa Hayato's heart was hard as iron. Even Nijika looking this pitiful would not shake him.
Ignoring his conscience, he said with the attitude of someone enjoying the show.
"That name's pretty good."
The majority had spoken, so even Nijika had no choice but to accept it.
In the end, she walked over to her sister with teary eyes and said in a choked voice.
"Kessoku Band, apparently..."
Seika kept her face taut to barely stop herself from laughing.
Photos
"Then next..."
After submitting their performance application and collecting herself, Nijika returned to continue the band meeting.
"We probably can't practice... so what else do bands need to do..."
"Disband."
Ryo interrupted.
"Ryo, don't talk!"
Nijika still seemed resentful over the terrible band naming from earlier.
But after saying that, she glanced at the other two. Seeing that neither of them looked like they agreed with Ryo, she relaxed slightly.
They normally did not spend much time together, so she wanted to take this opportunity to get to know everyone properly.
What should they do...
"How about taking a group photo for the band?"
As she was thinking, she suddenly heard Ishikawa Hayato make the suggestion.
"Great idea!"
Kita immediately started sparkling in that Kita way again. Her gaze fixed directly on Ryo as she sank into happy fantasies.
Kita Ikuyo's feelings were obvious to everyone.
Nijika sighed, then smiled. Although no one in the band besides her was normal, somehow, it felt like this was what being a musician was supposed to be like.
She raised her hand, and the red ribbon around her wrist fluttered.
"Okay, let's go."
"Oh~"
As the group walked onto the main road, the unusual combination of three girls and one boy made Ishikawa Hayato feel as dazzling as a harem king.
He could even feel some socially active people glaring at him with looks that said, Drop dead.
"Kita-chan goes to the same school and is in the same class as Hayato-kun, right?"
"Yes, it's such a coincidence."
Nijika and Kita walked ahead, chatting, while he and Ryo followed behind.
Seeing the two in front chatting enthusiastically, Ishikawa Hayato glanced at Ryo beside him.
She still showed little emotional change, her eyes half-hidden beneath her bangs as she stared ahead.
She wore a gender-neutral black shirt and black carrot pants. She had a strong air of independence, yet also looked tall and elegant.
Ishikawa Hayato thought about it. Although they were both among the ranks of strange people, it seemed they did not have much to talk about.
He casually found a topic.
"Where does Ryo usually go for fun?"
Hearing that topic, Kita's body instantly stiffened.
He was directly asking a woman where she showed up? What a frivolous man!
Come to think of it, she was a little curious. Ishikawa Hayato did not seem particularly familiar with the others either, so how long had he been in the band?
She immediately asked Nijika.
"Ijichi-senpai, how did Ishikawa-kun get to know all of you?"
Since it had only happened a couple of days ago, Nijika remembered it very clearly.
"On Wednesday, Hayato-kun suddenly came to us and said he wanted to join the band."
"Wednesday... this week's Wednesday?"
Kita Ikuyo was dumbfounded.
"Yeah."
Nijika nodded firmly.
Seeing Nijika nod, Kita felt an even stronger sense of absurdity. They had known each other for only a few days, yet they were already calling each other by their given names, and he did not even add "senpai."
This man definitely had ulterior motives!
Ishikawa Hayato's voice came from behind her.
"Vintage clothing stores? I've never been to one. Usually, like Ryo, I prefer wandering around places with barely anyone there."
Ryo-senpai is in danger!!
She can't talk to someone this frivolous!
"Really? Where do you usually go?" Ryo asked.
"Open places, like seawalls by the ocean or flat fields," Ishikawa Hayato answered.
"Isn't that boring?"
"It feels nice to relax in wide-open places."
After saying that, Ishikawa Hayato naturally invited Ryo, "Want to try it sometime?"
W-what... what is this man saying?!
Isn't this moving way too fast?!
Kita's eyes went blank as chaotic colors swirled within them.
Relaxing somewhere with no one around, trying it out... How could she allow something like that to happen!
She would protect Ryo-senpai!
Afraid that Ryo would be tricked into agreeing and that it would be too late if she did, her eyes instantly swept over the surroundings—shops, streets, wire fences, tall buildings, houses with unusual styles.
She found one.
"Um, there's a nice wall over there."
She hurriedly interrupted Ishikawa Hayato and Ryo's conversation, pointing from afar at a small building decorated in a summer style.
Ishikawa Hayato froze for a moment.
He had invited her without thinking. That was close.
He used to take people to those places so often that it had practically become instinct.
The four of them shifted their target to that shop.
Ryo, Kita, and Ishikawa Hayato stood against the side wall of the store, while Nijika stood a few steps away from them and checked the composition.
Nijika spread her index fingers and thumbs, forming a rectangular frame with both hands as she aimed it at the three of them.
"Kita-chan, you're amazing. This fits our background perfectly."
"No, no, I just happened to see it..."
Kita Ikuyo had not expected the place she picked at random to be approved. She hoped Ijichi-senpai was not just saying it to keep up the mood, or else her sense of guilt would grow even stronger.
"Then I'll go ask whether we can take pictures here."
As Nijika spoke, she jogged into the shop like a gust of wind, her golden ponytail floating behind her.
"I'll go too..."
Before Kita could finish speaking, she suddenly remembered Ishikawa Hayato standing beside Ryo.
The two of them were currently talking about performing.
Even an ordinary conversation gave her an enormous sense of crisis.
Before you continue