Ishikawa Hayato's wallet still hadn't recovered to a safe level.
He immediately became restrained and bowed to Seika.
"Sorry. I won't do it again..."
But after saying that, he put on a lively, cheerful smile and walked over to Nijika and Ryo.
That shifting expression filled Seika, who had just started smiling, with confusion. How did he manage to apologize seriously while still making it feel as though he hadn't apologized at all?
"Nijika~"
With a strange smile, he walked toward Nijika, who shivered at the sound of him calling her name.
He slid into the seat across from Nijika and looked at her wary expression.
"The way you were looking expectantly at the door just now was so cute."
"I mean..."
Nijika was helplessly thrown off by him, but she didn't follow his lead.
"The performance is tomorrow. Hayato-kun, could you at least be a little nervous?"
She knew that once Ishikawa Hayato led her into a topic, she wouldn't be able to get out of it. He might even muddle up her own train of thought.
Looking at these two beside her, Nijika was starting to worry.
Neither Hayato nor Ryo showed the slightest sign of nervousness. They were so calm that it was like they'd forgotten they were going onstage tomorrow. Nijika felt as if she had somehow taken all their nervousness onto herself.
She couldn't relax for even a moment now.
"I perform every day. Tomorrow's just a different stage, that's all. It'll be fine!"
As Ishikawa Hayato spoke, he kept blinking at Ryo to signal her.
Ryo hesitated, looking somewhat reluctant about Ishikawa Hayato's invitation, but after reading, Let's see Nijika's reaction, in his eyes, she acted.
Seeing her move, Ishikawa Hayato knew he'd successfully lured her in.
"Because we are..."
Nijika looked in surprise at the two of them suddenly acting in unison.
As Ishikawa Hayato spoke, he moved closer to Ryo. The two stood before Nijika with their arms folded, back to back.
"Weirdos," Ryo said.
"Perverts," Ishikawa Hayato said with an affirming nod.
Bang.
That was Nijika banging her head against the table to provide a drumbeat for them. What a desperately dedicated drummer.
Collapsed on the table, Nijika's stress level skyrocketed.
"Pfft."
Ryo covered her mouth and laughed.
A moment later, Ryo watched Ishikawa Hayato continuously comfort the puffed-up Nijika.
She recalled Ishikawa Hayato's goal in joining the band, as well as the information Kita Ikuyo had shown her before.
"I want to make music that lets people feel relaxed and at ease. I want others to listen to that music with me, relax together, and enjoy it together."
Others listening together, relaxing together, enjoying it together...
Others...
This man really did whatever he pleased.
Doubt
Without Ishikawa Hayato bothering her, Gotou Hitori returned to her usual life.
Going to school alone, attending class alone, eating lunch alone, taking the long train ride home alone, practicing guitar, uploading videos.
"It's been two weeks..."
Gotou Hitori checked the time when she turned on her computer.
It had been nearly two weeks since Ishikawa Hayato had come looking for her.
And...
She opened her fake YTB account. Under the videos she had hurriedly made and reposted before, there were no comments from Ishikawa Hayato either.
After checking every video several times, Gotou Hitori silently shuffled over to the wall, lowered her head, and hugged her knees. Even her bright turquoise-blue eyes had turned completely murky.
Did I get carried away and eat his food...
Or was the corner too dark...
Or do I smell moldy...
Aah, no matter how I thought about it, there were so many problems.
Gotou Hitori troubledly rubbed her pink hair.
Let's just treat these past few days as a nice dream. Wake up, Gotou Hitori!
She patted her cheeks, shut out those thoughts, and crawled back to her computer.
Forget it. No matter how painful reality was, it didn't matter. There were plenty of people online who cared about her.
With that thought, she opened her original account instead.
She planned to browse the comments and restore her nearly shattered mental health bar.
"I listen to your songs every day! I recently started learning guitar too. Looking forward to your next work!"
"I really like the part at 2:17."
"I love her guitar. Such an incredibly moving sound."
"It's Gotou-san, right? I'm Ishikawa Hayato."
A smile naturally appeared on Gotou Hitori's face as she read them, but when she saw the last comment...
Gotou Hitori: ???
She checked the account again. This was the account where she had uploaded videos before—the account named Guitar Hero.
She quickly scrolled her mouse wheel and went back up the page.
In the video description, she had written...
"After starting high school, my life got so fulfilling that I haven't had much time to post~!"
"This time, I played a song I often sing at karaoke with my friends!"
This was the persona she'd made up because she wanted to experience what it felt like to be socially fulfilled.
She scrolled back down again.
"It's Gotou-san, right? I'm Ishikawa Hayato."
Aaaaaaaaaah!
An extremely high-pitched scream, almost electronic from sheer terror, rang out from the closet.
Downstairs.
Gotou's mother looked upstairs in confusion.
Bang, bang, bang—frightening impacts, like someone was renovating, came one after another.
She didn't even need to think to know that her eldest daughter was doing something strange again.
It was just that her reaction was unusually intense today.
"What's going on? Hitori is especially noisy today."
"True. She normally doesn't go this far."
Gotou's father, who was watching television, also rubbed his chin in surprise.
"Could it be..."
His eyes lit up, and then he turned to meet Gotou's mother's gaze.
They exchanged looks. Their excited expressions vanished at a visible speed, and they sighed together.
"Of course not."
Why, why...
Curled up inside the closet, Gotou Hitori stared blankly at the partition above her like an innocent, wounded little animal.
Why had she been found out...
It took a long time before she recovered from questioning her entire existence. Slowly sitting up, she opened her computer.
She clicked on that comment again.
Ah, there was an attached message too.
She looked at it.
"You really are amazing. Can you bring your guitar tomorrow and play for me?"
The message had been sent an hour ago.
Gotou Hitori lowered her head. Before long, her body began trembling slightly.
A smile spread across her face beneath her bangs, and her cheeks practically melted.
"Hehe... hehe... If you put it that way, then I guess I have no choice, hehe."
Meanwhile, Kita Ikuyo was lying on the sofa in pajamas, hugging a cushion and happily messaging her friend.
But suddenly, she received a text.
When she saw that the sender was Ishikawa Hayato, she didn't bother replying to her friend and immediately opened it.
"Sorry, I forgot to tell Nijika about you."
Kita Ikuyo: ???
Wait, what was that supposed to mean?
About her apology?
Did they still think she was coming? The performance was tomorrow!!
She abruptly sat up and threw aside the cushion. The poor cushion, accidentally caught in the crossfire, flew to the floor and bounced up with a soft poof.
With an utterly incredulous expression, Kita Ikuyo tapped at the screen with even more unbelievable, lightning-fast speed.
"Don't tell me Ijichi-senpai and Ryo-senpai are still waiting for me!"
The reply came quickly too.
Ishikawa Hayato: "Yeah... Sorry. By the way, I still haven't told them."
"What are you doing?!"
It had been nearly two weeks! How could he possibly be this forgetful?!
Kita Ikuyo had the urge to immediately grab a knife from the kitchen and charge over to Ishikawa Hayato's house.
If he still hadn't told them at a time like this, didn't that make it seem like she was deliberately trying to ruin the performance?!
Ishikawa Hayato: "Well, it's fine. It doesn't really matter. We just need to risk our lives finding a guitarist. I'll tell Nijika tomorrow. Oh, and Kita, come watch tomorrow too."
Before you continue