"A pervert's wallet, like his integrity, simply doesn't exist."
Ryo looked at the empty wallet. Her businesslike smile vanished in an instant, and she silently turned around and walked into the room.
Ishikawa Hayato followed her inside.
"Pant... pant..."
Once Nijika caught sight of Ryo's unmistakably extravagant mansion, the breath she had been forcing herself to hold finally gave out. She braced her hands on her knees and desperately gulped in air.
But after only two seconds, her lingering worry urged her to pick up her phone again.
She called Ryo.
The wait before the call connected felt unbearably long and agonizing.
Holding her phone, she walked toward the mansion's gate. By the time she reached it, she was about to enter Ryo's house without even notifying her when—
The call connected.
"Nijika." Ryo's somewhat low voice sounded a little hoarse through the electronic processing.
Hearing her voice reassured Nijika somewhat, but since she was already here, she decided to see how those two got along in private.
So she said to Ryo,
"Ryo, I'm at your front door."
"Oh, come up."
43. Becoming Weird
"Ryo, you really have a lot of instruments in your room. Can you play all of these?"
After stepping into the sixteen-year-old girl's room, Ishikawa Hayato naturally and boldly looked around.
Ryo glanced back at him, then swept her eyes over her somewhat messy room. Seeing that there was nothing too embarrassing lying around, she didn't mind and let him look.
She answered softly.
"Yeah."
Just as Ishikawa Hayato had said.
Various instruments sat on the walls and shelves in the corners of Ryo's room: violins, guitars, bass guitars, even classical guitars.
Every one of them was neatly arranged.
Rather than a high school girl's room, this place was more fittingly described as a music enthusiast's room.
But the atmosphere of a high school girl's room was also unmistakable.
Ishikawa Hayato looked at the small pair of black tights tossed by the bedside, the white school uniform thrown over a chair with its hanger still attached, and the dark high-waisted pleated skirt casually draped over it.
The unmade bed, the cosmetics, hair clips, earrings, and studs piled on the vanity.
Other than that, it wasn't too outrageously messy. Nijika had probably come over to take care of her before.
Looking at all this, Ishikawa Hayato seemed to experience a kind of synesthesia. Amid the woody scent of the instruments, he caught a faint, sweet fragrance belonging to a girl.
Ryo walked over to the computer desk on her own and turned on the computer.
She had no intention of entertaining him at all. She sat down directly, and while waiting for it to boot up, asked Ishikawa Hayato,
"Have you thought of all the lyrics?"
Ishikawa Hayato froze, then walked over helplessly.
"We're really doing this?"
"Of course."
A faint smile appeared on Ryo's face. Her expression seemed to say she wanted to give Nijika an unforgettable surprise.
Ishikawa Hayato looked at her and smiled.
"All right!"
Then he closed his eyes. The endless perverted light in his heart blazed up, and inspiration erupted like a fountain.
In less than a few seconds, the man raised his head, his eyes shining brilliantly.
He said to Ryo without the slightest politeness,
"Pen! Paper!"
Ryo had already taken out a blank notebook and pen from the drawer and handed them to him decisively.
Ishikawa Hayato didn't waste any words. He pulled over a chair, sat beside the computer desk, and began writing lyrics at lightning speed.
Watching him write with such flair, Ryo leaned over to look at the frightening words appearing beneath his pen. Her eyes showed admiration for how terrifying this man truly was.
At the same time, inspiration rose within her as well. She opened the software and rapidly worked on the computer, quickly arranging the melodies in her mind into track after track.
The creation was complete.
Ishikawa Hayato looked at the lyrics for Take It All Off beneath his pen and nodded in satisfaction.
He was certain that anyone who could appreciate this song would probably need to be registered at a police station.
The moment he put down his pen, Ryo glanced toward his notebook and asked,
"Finished?"
"A masterpiece I'm proud of!"
Ishikawa Hayato said without hesitation.
Ryo reached out and pulled the notebook in front of herself. She glanced at it, her eyes going blank for a moment, then took out her phone.
Under the gaze of the pervert beside her, she pressed 11. Before she could press 0—
She came back to her senses and looked to the side. Ishikawa Hayato was smiling brilliantly at her.
The woman stared at Ishikawa Hayato for a while. After swallowing, she silently put away her phone.
She raised a hand and swore with utmost seriousness.
"I cherish my life. I will absolutely not do anything like calling the police."
"Very good."
Ishikawa Hayato narrowed his eyes and smiled like a fox.
With lyrics that impactful, Ryo worked at incredible speed as well. Her keyboard and mouse were clicked without pause, and the arrangement software on the screen rapidly began to show the rudimentary form of the song.
Watching the busy Ryo, Ishikawa Hayato felt somewhat confused.
Sure enough, from the way she worked sharply at the computer, she had been struck by a powerful burst of inspiration. But no matter how good the song was, Nijika would most likely never allow it to be performed with his lyrics.
Not just Nijika. The others would oppose it too.
Why was she still working so hard?
After she had been busy for quite a while and was nearly done, Ryo's phone rang.
She ignored it and was about to reach over and dismiss it when Ishikawa Hayato grabbed her hand.
"It's Nijika."
Ishikawa Hayato reminded her.
He guessed Nijika had found out that he and Ryo had come out together and were now at Ryo's house.
If they hung up at a time like this...
Then Nijika would probably burn through her life force and sprint here at full speed, appearing before them as if she had teleported.
Without taking her eyes off the computer, Ryo answered the phone and held it to her ear. Her call was extremely brief and straightforward.
"Nijika."
"Oh, come up."
She put down her phone and returned both hands to the keyboard and mouse. In the next moment, afterimages danced across them as she worked desperately.
Inside the case of her absurdly high-spec computer, several fans let out terrified cries.
In less than ten seconds.
"Whew."
She wiped her forehead and smiled at Ishikawa Hayato.
"Done."
Ishikawa Hayato looked at the export progress bar on the computer, then turned to her.
"So you're a pervert too?"
His words earned him Ryo's cold gaze.
The rejected Ishikawa Hayato awkwardly scratched his head and voiced the question he had just been wondering about.
"Why did you want to make this song, Ryo? The others probably won't agree to perform it."
Ryo's gaze first rested on him. Her golden eyes studied him with a complicated expression for several seconds, then shifted to the rapidly exporting progress bar on the computer screen before finally turning toward the window.
Listening to birdsong whose source she could hear but not see, she said,
"I joined another band before. I really liked their music in the beginning."
Her voice carried a hint of gloom and a helplessness devoid of joy or sorrow.
"But in order to become famous, they worked very hard. Gradually, they began writing songs for the sake of selling them."
"That was what I got tired of, so I left the band."
Her gaze fell on the screen as she spoke meaningfully.
"At least in the beginning, I want the music to come from the heart."
Looking at her gloomy, profound expression, Ishikawa Hayato understood what she was thinking about, what she was worried about.
As though laughing at her for being foolish, he smiled.
Then he cheerfully swept away her low mood.
"Don't worry. Bocchi is easy to handle. Your perspective is still too narrow, Ryo. Everyone in our band is special."
After saying that, he looked at the computer, where the audio had finished exporting.
He said to Ryo,
"But we probably can't perform this song. How about the two of us sing it?"
Ryo had merely raised her head and quietly watched Ishikawa Hayato speak, but when she heard his last sentence, her expression changed.
"I'm not singing!"
She refused decisively.
Ishikawa Hayato smiled at her.
"Accomplices are the safest kind of relationship, Miss Yamada Ryo. Do you understand?"
Nijika entered the courtyard and casually closed the gate behind her.
She still trusted Ishikawa Hayato. Hayato-kun loved messing around, but he was extremely reliable.
But trusting him was one thing. Worrying was another. Thinking about the things Ishikawa Hayato usually said always made her feel uneasy.
After entering the villa, she skillfully took out a pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and changed into them. The sound of her slippers against the floor quickly passed through the entrance hall before stopping by the metal partition along the side of the house.
She suddenly became curious whether Ishikawa Hayato's free and easy demeanor would become more restrained because of Ryo's family background.
Come to think of it, other than her, this was probably the first time Ryo had brought someone home.
Could it be?!
Ryo and Hayato-kun usually seemed to get along so happily. Could they have developed that kind of relationship at some point?!
Before you continue