Social Anxiety and the Rock of Loneliness

Kita-senpai's senior...

What kind of person could they be?

At STARRY, waiting for the performance to start, Ishikawa Hayato sat for a long while, only seeing Ryo arrive alone.

She unhurriedly descended the stairs, having changed into casual clothes after going home, looking genuinely looking forward to the show.

"Where's Nijika?"

Ishikawa Hayato already knew, but asked anyway.

"Went to find a guitarist to replace Kita."

Ryo said, wearing a bored expression as she sat down beside Ishikawa Hayato.

"Feels like it's going to be a disaster."

Ishikawa Hayato affirmed.

"Mm."

Ryo nodded.

After a short while, Seika-manager walked over. She looked left and right without seeing her sister, and asked the two.

"Where's Nijika?"

"She ran away."

Ishikawa Hayato, who never lies, said so.

"Huh?"

Seika-manager, knowing it was a lie at once, flashed the wild and fierce gaze of a former band girl, glaring at the guy.

Ishikawa Hayato gave an awkward smile and waved his hand apologetically.

"Went to find a guitarist." Ryo answered Seika's question.

"Now?"

Seika's expression shifted to one of surprise, as if asking you're messing with me too, but after seeing Ryo nod, she pressed her head in frustration.

"Tell Nijika for me later—practice hard until it starts! Honestly, this idiot sister of mine."

Seika grumbled irritably as she walked away.

"The manager's mad."

"Nijika's in trouble."

The two sighed together.

Time passed slowly, and even Ishikawa Hayato was starting to worry if something had gone wrong, when Nijika's cheerful voice rang out.

"Good morning."

He snapped back to reality.

For someone gloomy and dark, 'good morning' at dusk was perfectly fine as a greeting.

He looked toward the door.

Behind Nijika followed a timid girl with pink hair in a ponytail, wearing a pink tracksuit top and a pleated skirt.

The two descended the stairs, and Nijika introduced the shop to her.

He didn't speak, just quietly watched them.

Ryo pushed her chair aside and stood up, walking toward them while greeting Nijika.

"You're finally back."

"Ryo~"

Nijika smiled and called out to Ryo, then introduced the person she'd brought.

"This is Gotou Hitori-chan. She's the guitarist Kita-chan asked to help out."

Ishikawa Hayato watched from the side. Gotou Hitori was clearly intimidated by Ryo's expressionless face, her own expression starting to twist.

Then Nijika reached out to introduce Ryo to Gotou Hitori.

But before she could even finish a sentence, Gotou Hitori immediately bowed deeply and shouted.

"I'm Gotou Hitori! I'm very sorry!"

Nijika's expression turned awkward as she tried to smooth over the increasingly strange atmosphere, then her gaze darted around.

Ishikawa Hayato knew it was his time to step in.

With the uncanny ability of a weirdo to appear and disappear, he flashed over beside Nijika and Gotou Hitori.

Placing his hands on their shoulders.

"Ladies, did you lose something?"

"Hayato-kun!"

Nijika was so startled by Ishikawa Hayato that she immediately turned her head, then stomped her foot in frustration. It wasn't that she minded him touching her like this.

Rather, she knew how timid the girl beside her was—being scared like this by Hayato would make her run off.

He was usually so good at reading the room, so why was he suddenly acting like this now!

"Ah, Ishikawa-kun..."

Gotou Hitori stared in surprise at Ishikawa Hayato, who had his hand on her shoulder.

She hadn't expected him to be here too. Seeing someone she knew put her a bit more at ease.

She even felt an irrepressible surge of delight.

Could it be that the band she'd just joined on a whim was Ishikawa-kun's!?

Ishikawa Hayato glanced at Gotou Hitori, then suddenly turned into a drama queen. Pulling a handkerchief from who knows where, he wiped at his eyes and spoke in a pitiful tone.

"Sob sob, Gotou-san must hate me, right? When someone else invites you, you come right away, but when I invite you, you ignore me."

"Eh, eh? No, no, that's not it!"

Gotou Hitori flailed her hands in a panic, denying it.

"You two know each other?" Nijika blinked in surprise.

Ishikawa Hayato dropped the act and smiled normally.

"Yeah, Gotou-san is a guitarist I've been wanting to bring in for a while."

"I see."

Nijika let out a long sigh of relief.

As expected, even if Hayato-kun always did weird things, he still had good judgment.

Just then, Ryo remembered what Seika had told her to pass on to Nijika.

"Speaking of which, the manager said to keep practicing until the show starts. She was angrily complaining about you going out, and then she left to buy something."

Nijika looked at Ryo in alarm, even clenching her little fists in fear by the end.

Clearly, her angry sister's intimidation factor was still high.

"You're kidding me!"

She hurriedly urged the others, shoving Ryo along.

"Let's head to the practice room before she gets back."

The practice room, which had only ever seen three people train, now had one more girl joining them.

And the change that brought was—

Nijika pushed Ryo into the practice room, then mercilessly abandoned her, pulling out their performance plans and sheet music from under the cabinet.

She glanced at Ishikawa Hayato, and seeing he wasn't moving, she handed the stack of papers to Gotou Hitori herself.

"This is today's schedule and the sheet music."

Gotou Hitori took the music and confirmed the band's lineup.

The one who'd brought her here was Ijichi Nijika—she'd mentioned on the way that she was the drummer, and Yamada Ryo was the bassist.

Ishikawa-kun was... She watched him walk over to the synthesizer that had already been set up—he was the keyboardist. Add in Kita Ikuyo, who'd said she couldn't play guitar.

Wasn't that almost a full lineup?

Come to think of it, what about the vocalist?

"Um, the band members are..."

"Everyone performing this time is here. We're doing an instrumental piece this round."

Nijika said this as she turned on the amplifier for her, then patted it. "Hitori, use this."

"Ah... okay."

Gotou Hitori nodded nervously, then noticed Ishikawa Hayato's gaze on her.

When she looked over at him, he gave her a thumbs-up with a bright, encouraging smile before starting to test the keyboard sounds.

She quickly focused on the sheet music.

No problem.

She could easily play a piece at this level. But without a vocalist, she'd have to put in more effort on the performance.

And here, she could also show Ishikawa-kun what she was capable of.

Nijika watched the temporarily recruited Hitori's confident smile and relaxed a little.

Even she knew how absurd it was to find a guitarist two hours before a show.

And if the performance was too terrible, her sister would kill her when she got home tonight.

She watched Gotou Hitori's expression as she spoke.

"Then without further delay, let's start from the beginning."

"Well, take it slow at first, then gradually get used to it."

Worried she might rush and overlook others' feelings again, she checked on Gotou Hitori's demeanor. After tuning, the girl wore a small smile, looking like she wanted to show off.

Then she said.

"Let's begin."

She set the rhythm by tapping her drumsticks.

A few minutes later.

Huum~

The song ended, the lingering notes of the electronic instruments echoing through the rehearsal room.

Ishikawa Hayato sighed. Even though he'd introduced Gotou Hitori beforehand and helped her adjust to interacting with others, it hadn't changed much.

"Absolutely terrible."

The stark contrast between before and after startled Nijika so much that she said the opposite of what she meant.

She ended up keeping the words "That was pretty good" locked inside her mind.

"Pfft."

It wasn't until she heard Ryo's stifled laughter that she realized her mistake.

She scrambled to explain.

"No, no, ah, this..."

Amid their chaos, Ishikawa Hayato adjusted the glasses he'd somehow put on.

"Looks like we need to change the battlefield."