Seeing the atmosphere ease, Nijika had just breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to continue the conversation when Ishikawa Hayato beat her to it.
"Let's talk about our shared goals. That'll help us get to know each other faster."
He said this to Nijika, whose turn to speak had been stolen.
"Nijika, tell us what we need to do after forming the band."
"Uh..."
Nijika sighed hesitantly.
Ishikawa Hayato knew why she was acting that way. After all, Kita's earlier escape had partly been caused by Nijika being too hasty.
At least, that was how she saw it.
So now, she intended to slow down, start by getting to know everyone, and move forward steadily.
Prompted like this, Nijika looked at the others and thought for a moment before nodding.
"Then, next, let's write a song. We'll use our own song for the next performance."
"Ryo can compose, and Bocchi has a lot of forbidden words, so Bocchi can write the lyrics."
Ishikawa Hayato sighed inwardly. Nijika was too gentle. If she was always so considerate of others, it would be hard to make progress.
Still, it had worked out by accident.
He looked at Bocchi, whose expression was one of surprise. She lowered her head as though gathering up all her courage.
"What do you think? It's a good idea, right?"
Nijika asked her again, as if seeking confirmation.
Bocchi nodded slightly.
Once she felt that things were starting to move forward and the atmosphere was no longer so stifling, Kita Ikuyo eagerly said to Ryo-senpai,
"I'm really looking forward to Ryo-senpai's song!"
Ryo replied calmly in her low, steady voice.
"Yeah. Look forward to it."
"I'm counting on you, Ryo." Nijika smiled faintly from the bottom of her heart, then looked at Bocchi beside her.
In a light, adorable tone, she said,
"And Minister of Lyrics~"
Kita, who had nearly dealt Bocchi a fatal blow just now, also congratulated her.
"Gotou-san getting such an important task is really cool."
"Cool?!"
Bocchi repeated in surprise under her breath, then suddenly became lightheaded with delight.
"Well, writing lyrics is a piece of cake. It couldn't be easier."
"I'll definitely write some insanely popular lyrics that totally feel like a band."
Kita Ikuyo forced out a smile. "Gotou-san really gets carried away the moment she's praised..."
Ryo's gaze turned a little colder as she stared at the cup of orange juice.
Seeing that Bocchi was doing well, Nijika relaxed considerably and thought for a moment.
"Anything else..."
Kita Ikuyo raised her hand without hesitation.
"If we're running an INS account, leave it to me!"
Nijika answered without giving it much thought.
"Sounds good. The duties of Minister of Social Media are yours."
"When we need it, I'll update it every day!"
Kita Ikuyo hugged her phone, looking blissful now that she had found her place.
Ishikawa Hayato raised his hand as well.
"If we need someone to move instruments later, or if there's a conflict or a fight, leave it to me. As long as there aren't any firearms, I can take on thirty people by myself."
"Then I'll leave it to... huh?"
Nijika had only gotten halfway through her sentence before Ishikawa Hayato's latter words stunned her speechless.
"Oh~ Very reliable."
Ryo looked quite satisfied.
Anyone who had been in a band knew how reassuring it was to have a top-tier bodyguard like that.
"No, no, we're not that kind of rock band!" Nijika hurriedly tried to stop Ishikawa Hayato, who was about to send the conversation flying off the rails again.
Having seen Ishikawa Hayato's strength, Kita Ikuyo twitched the corner of her mouth wordlessly.
Ryo looked at Nijika, who had been assigning tasks since the beginning yet had not taken on anything herself, and asked,
"What are you in charge of, Nijika?"
As soon as she finished speaking, the other four looked at Nijika.
Nijika seemed utterly bewildered and froze.
It was as though time in the room had stopped.
Then Nijika adorably picked up the die, gently tossed it with controlled force, raised the side it landed on, and loudly announced,
"Next up is the topic of targets~"
The straight man had fled, so Straight Man Number Two, Ryo, made her entrance.
"You're just openly muddling through..."
Ishikawa Hayato said helplessly, "We're back to this again..."
Even Kita had no idea how to play along. She and Bocchi simply stared blankly at Nijika together.
With everyone looking at her helplessly, Nijika blushed and shouted,
"A d-drummer is like the band's lubricant!"
"Are you an intern?"
Ryo replied with a brilliant retort.
Later
Nijika briefly explained performance quotas to the people who knew nothing about performing.
"Put simply, we need to sell a portion of the tickets ourselves. If our sales exceed the quota, we get a share of the venue's revenue. If we fall short, we have to cover the difference ourselves."
Even Ryo's face took on a gloomy look as she recalled,
"In simple terms, it costs a lot of money at the beginning."
Hearing that, Kita's face turned pale, and she quietly touched her wallet.
Ever since buying her guitar, she did not have much allowance left. It could be said that her finances were in critical condition.
She was almost unable to afford hanging out with her friends!
She could only get a part-time job.
She made the decision silently.
She was not the only one who felt the hardship. Nijika did too.
She sighed.
"A lot of my friends came to yesterday's performance, so we managed to sell the tickets smoothly. I don't know whether they'll want to come next time..."
The more she spoke, the darker her future seemed. She even lost the strength to sit upright, swaying as though she were about to collapse.
Drawing on her experience with previous bands, Ryo judged,
"Yesterday's performance was pretty interesting."
"But the actual playing was a complete mess..."
Nijika knew her friends had been fairly satisfied with their performance, but for some reason, she still felt unwilling to accept that.
After all, they could not rely on Hayato-kun's performances to carry the show every time. Besides, they were a band, not a comedy duo.
Music was supposed to be the main focus.
She did not even have the confidence to invite them again.
"Um... I can invite my friends too. How many people do we need?"
At that moment, a voice like that of a god rang out beside her.
The confidence in that tone was like Jesus offering fish and bread. God said, take as much as you want; the fish and bread will never run out.
"Really?!"
Nijika perked up and looked at Kita Ikuyo.
"Yeah! If I don't invite them, they'll complain instead."
Kita Ikuyo imagined that scene and smiled helplessly. Then, holding her phone as though she were ready to act at any moment, she looked at Nijika with sparkling eyes.
"How many people should I invite?"
Nijika was overwhelmed by that extrovert aura. This was the power of sunshine far beyond her own!
Cautiously, she gave the lowest possible number.
"Around twenty people should be enough."
"That many is enough? Got it."
Kita indicated that such a small number would be easy. She slightly raised the hand holding her phone and happily made a V sign.
Kita!
An invisible radiance bloomed.
But the others had already begun to adapt to this high concentration of spiritual light and did not suffer much damage.
Only Ishikawa Hayato turned to look at Bocchi beside him. Even before being scorched by that spiritual light, she had already looked like she was about to collapse, wearing a pained expression of self-pity.
He reached out and poked Bocchi's cheek, which was about to turn to ash. She shuddered, suddenly snapped awake, and looked at Ishikawa Hayato in fear.
Ishikawa Hayato smiled at her.
Nijika glanced at the interaction between the two of them, then happily continued,
"But we also need to save up for equipment costs and the band's starting funds. For those expenses, let's get part-time jobs~!"
"Really?! That's great!"
Kita, who had already been planning to get a part-time job, was the one who responded. Upon hearing Nijika suggest that they all work together, she agreed joyfully while secretly glancing at Ishikawa Hayato.
But a sharp cry suddenly tore through the harmonious atmosphere.
"A part-time job?!"
Bocchi's voice startled everyone except Ishikawa Hayato.
It also made Nijika, who had suggested getting jobs, nervous. She cautiously asked Bocchi, whose expression was beginning to fall apart,
"Bocchi-chan... what is it?"
Bocchi lowered her head deeply and did not answer Nijika's question. After her body trembled for a while, she swiftly grabbed her shoulder bag and rummaged through it.
Then—
She slowly held out a piggy bank.
The three girls stared at the piggy bank with question marks written all over their faces.
Before you continue