Can't get away...
Kita Ikuyo cried inwardly.
A moment later, Nijika came hopping out of the shop with a smile.
"They said we can take pictures however we want."
"Then hurry up and take one."
Kita Ikuyo frantically interrupted their conversation.
No matter how guilty she felt, Kita Ikuyo had no regrets. Ishikawa-kun absolutely did not deserve Ryo-senpai!
Even if she got kicked to death by a horse, she had to stop this!
Ishikawa Hayato only found it amusing when Kita Ikuyo interrupted him. Watching her try so hard to keep him from talking to Ryo was incredibly entertaining.
In fact, he could read the same feeling from Ryo.
The two scumbags silently and tacitly teased the girl, constantly sneaking glances at Kita Ikuyo's ever-changing expression even as they chatted casually.
However, when it was time to get serious, he stopped fooling around.
Ishikawa Hayato stepped forward and unfolded the tripod he had been carrying, setting it up in an open space.
"How's this spot?"
He asked the others.
Nijika mounted the camera and checked the frame on its display.
"A little more to the left. Okay."
After confirming the position, they kept setting the timer, taking photos, and adjusting their spots.
But once it started getting a little boring, Ishikawa Hayato began acting up.
After setting the timer and getting ready to pose for the picture, Nijika felt a fierce gust suddenly whip up beside her.
She instinctively turned her head and met Ishikawa Hayato's eyes, except their lines of sight were upside down from each other.
Before Nijika could grasp what was happening, her heart lurched as she realized something was wrong.
Click.
Yet no one looked at the camera that had just taken the photo. The three girls stared blankly at Ishikawa Hayato, who had landed back on the ground.
Ishikawa Hayato flashed a peace sign and grinned with perverted satisfaction before walking over to the tripod and taking down the camera.
The three girls crowded around, their minds full of question marks.
Then they saw themselves in the image, their gazes shifted away from the front.
This photo was unusable. They sighed inwardly.
But what shocked them most was the boy appearing beside the girls' cute poses as if he were hanging upside down in the frame.
It was as though he had been edited in afterward, standing perfectly straight from above in reverse.
At the same time, he stared directly into Nijika's eyes beside him.
The image had an absurd, uncanny quality to it.
"Ishikawa-kun..."
Pretending to be angry, Nijika directly called Ishikawa Hayato by his surname.
"Normal pictures are boring. Doesn't this make it more fun...?"
Ishikawa Hayato put on an ingratiating smile.
That appearance left Nijika both annoyed and amused, though she still kept a stern face.
After interacting with him these past few days, she had realized Ishikawa Hayato often did strange things just for laughs. If no one said anything to him, he would only get more and more outrageous.
At the same time, Ishikawa Hayato was so carefree that he did not mind being scolded by girls at all.
So she did not go easy on him.
"A little scary... but it's pretty unique."
Kita gave her assessment after looking at the photo, then turned to Ryo.
Ryo seemed rather satisfied, but after thinking it over, she shook her head.
"The photo is interesting, but it doesn't fit our band's style."
"Urgh."
After being rejected twice in a row, Ishikawa Hayato collapsed onto the ground with a defeated expression.
The three girls watched this completely undignified guy with both amusement and helplessness.
"Let's take the next one. Stop lying around."
Nijika put her hands on her hips and urged him on.
After taking several shots, they felt they had gotten enough.
Ishikawa Hayato's phone rang. He looked at the three girls who were reviewing the photos, moved a few steps away, and answered the call.
"Big brother... you remembered?"
Ishikawa Hayato held the phone a little farther away and checked the time.
Then he replied in an exceptionally calm tone.
"I've been waiting for you all this time. Where are you?"
"You're lying..." On the other end of the phone, Hibiki sighed, her voice melancholy. "I'll send you my location."
Without even looking at the location, Ishikawa Hayato hung up and walked over to the three girls discussing which photo would be best for the band's promotional picture.
"Sorry, I need to leave first. There's something I need to accomplish with my life."
Hearing Ishikawa Hayato's strange words, Nijika stupidly raised her head.
"Is everything okay...?"
She asked him worriedly. For some reason, she felt Ishikawa Hayato was not joking.
"It's fine. I'll get going, then."
Ishikawa Hayato nodded with a grave expression, then took out his phone to confirm the address and assumed a sprinting stance.
Under the three girls' baffled gazes.
Whoosh.
He transformed into a gust of wind, vanishing from their sight at an unbelievable speed.
A few minutes later, with Ishikawa Hayato gone, the three had nothing else to do. They planned to return to STARRY before going their separate ways.
Just then, Kita Ikuyo's phone chimed. Someone she followed had posted a photo on Instagram, and she puzzledly took her phone from her pocket.
Who would be posting on Instagram at a time like this?
She only followed a few people, and none of them seemed to have anything special scheduled today.
She lit up her screen and took a look.
It was Ishikawa Hayato's.
When they followed each other earlier, she had not put him on her mute list...
Kita sighed inwardly.
Still, she was curious about why Ishikawa Hayato had run off so quickly.
She opened the Instagram post and looked.
In the photo, Ishikawa Hayato was sitting with a girl at a dessert shop, the new place she had gone to with her friends the other day.
The girl held the camera. She was probably using a selfie stick, beaming with a happiness that practically overflowed from her.
Across from her sat Ishikawa Hayato, wearing a helpless expression as he rested his chin on his hand and looked toward the camera.
Ishikawa Hayato actually had a girlfriend!?
Kita Ikuyo immediately brightened, but after looking more closely, she noticed the caption below.
'Having dessert with my little sister at the newly opened dessert shop.'
Kita, who had happily been ready to show the photo to Ryo-senpai, immediately drooped her head in disappointment.
Unspoken
That afternoon arrived.
Ishikawa Hayato, idly playing with his synthesizer at home, received a LINE message from Nijika.
'Do you have time to come to STARRY and discuss the performance arrangements and setlist?'
He replied, 'I'll be right there.'
But this time.
After Ishikawa Hayato arrived, and even after Ryo arrived right on time, Kita still failed to show up.
None of them had expected that their meeting that morning would be the last time they saw Kita Ikuyo before the performance.
Saturday passed, and Sunday arrived.
Kita Ikuyo still did not appear at STARRY, and she did not even reply on LINE.
As though something had happened to her, she left behind only a shadow in Kessoku Band's LINE group chat.
"Namu..."
Ryo pressed her palms together and silently prayed for the missing member.
As for Nijika, who was usually cheerful and lively, she merely sat quietly at the table. She did not show the slightest hint of distress, but neither did she reveal even the faintest smile.
She looked like someone who had just started down the road, only to fall flat on her face.
But only a moment later, she pulled herself together and spoke energetically to the other two.
"Maybe Kita-chan has something going on. Let's start the meeting."
But Ishikawa Hayato did not simply go along with her. Instead, after she spoke, he comforted her.
"Nijika, don't be so nervous. I'll go ask around in class tomorrow."
Nijika looked at Ishikawa Hayato. From beginning to end, he alone had remained calm, as though no negative emotion could ever cling to him.
"Nervous? No, no, I'm always fine."
She waved her hands and denied what Ishikawa Hayato said with a smile, but she still accepted his help.
"Then I'll leave it to you, Hayato-kun."
"Yeah."
After that, the three began discussing the songs for the performance, stage details, MC banter, and other matters.
By Monday, Ishikawa Hayato was indeed curious about what had happened to Kita Ikuyo.
Had she really run away, or had something happened to her?
And what would she say when she saw him?
That morning, he did not make a special effort to look for Gotou Hitori and hurried toward school.
However, more than ten steps behind him, Gotou Hitori's hesitant footsteps came to a stop. The expectation in her blue-green eyes slowly faded into calm as she lowered her gaze sadly to the ground.
When he arrived in the classroom, Ishikawa Hayato looked around and saw that Kita Ikuyo had not arrived. He was in no hurry to ask anyone about her, instead returning to his seat as if nothing had happened.
He completely ignored the atmosphere in the classroom, where everyone thoroughly ignored him.
Before you continue