Nijika suddenly became interested and quickly headed for Ryo's room.
Near the room,
Nijika slowed to a stop and told herself,
"Mm, I'm just listening to see whether they're having a lively chat and whether it's appropriate to interrupt them now. I'm absolutely not thinking about anything weird."
She nodded firmly with her arms folded, the movement so big that even her dress swayed.
"Mm!"
Then the girl immediately put on a sly, catlike expression, pressed herself against the door, and eavesdropped.
"Take off your clothes!"
Amid impassioned vocals, Ishikawa Hayato cried out as if singing.
Nijika: ???
What were these two doing?!
Still, she suppressed the anxiety that had suddenly risen in her heart and continued listening at the door.
"Show your most primal self, form wings from filth, and fly~"
Ryo's voice followed, sounding as though she were singing unwillingly.
It was a song.
Nijika knew she had misunderstood just now. She let out a breath of relief. Good thing she hadn't charged in directly, or that would have been horribly embarrassing.
But why did Ryo sound so unwilling?
It was like she was being held hostage.
Could Hayato-kun be forcing her to sing?
Nijika's expression turned stern. Still, even if that was not the case, just the fact that they were singing such a weird song meant she had to stop them.
With that thought, she pushed open the door and walked in without another word.
"Hayato-kun, Ryo, we're not going to sing this song..."
Nijika stood by the door with one hand on the handle. Before she could finish, she saw Ishikawa Hayato holding a phone and recording Ryo, whose little face looked pitifully aggrieved.
Nijika stared at the scene, her mind unable to process it as she called out blankly,
"W-what are you two doing?!"
Accomplices
A dozen or so seconds before Nijika pushed open the door.
Inside Ryo's room.
Ryo heard Ishikawa Hayato's seemingly threatening tone and looked at his smiling face.
The quiet, somewhat cool girl leaned farther back in her office chair and crossed her legs. The loose pants faintly outlined the curves of her legs.
"Shouldn't accomplices hold each other's weaknesses?"
At sixteen, this girl already possessed a hint of the taciturn, aloof, proud mature aura she would have in the future.
"Oh? Then what does Ryo want to do?"
Ishikawa Hayato sat back down, watching the girl he still could not see through with curiosity.
Ryo leaned forward slightly, elbows on her knees and body curved forward. A soft smile rested on her face as she happily spun her office chair a little.
"Nijika will be coming up soon, so we'll..."
Back to the present.
"W-what are you two doing?!"
Hearing Nijika's voice, Ryo looked at her with tearful eyes, appearing pitiful as if Ishikawa Hayato had bullied her.
"Nijika..."
With a trembling voice, she reached out toward Nijika.
Nijika hurried over, then turned around and used her own body to shield Ryo.
"Ishikawa-kun, don't bully Ryo!"
She shouted angrily.
"Well, Ryo agreed to it too."
Ishikawa Hayato smiled. He did not seem worried about making Nijika angry as he poked his head out and smiled at Ryo behind her.
Ryo glanced at Nijika, whose gaze had turned toward her, and wore an expression that said, What are you talking about?
After Nijika looked away, she seemed to sense something wrong. She stared at Ishikawa Hayato with a puzzled expression.
Meanwhile, Ryo secretly gave Ishikawa Hayato a faint smile.
Seeing Ryo's triumphant smile, Ishikawa Hayato felt helpless.
Why had she come up with this move? It was like she wanted Nijika to hate him.
Did this still count as holding each other's weaknesses?
He stood up, not wanting to dwell on it any further, and walked toward Nijika with a broad smile.
"Eh, Hayato-kun, what are you doing?!"
Nijika, who had just been acting like a protector, immediately lost her nerve when she saw Ishikawa Hayato approach. Looking a little frightened, she stepped back.
"It's not anything bad."
Ishikawa Hayato smiled slyly, his eyes narrowing into slits.
He quickly approached Nijika, held her shoulders, and pushed her toward the computer amid her flustered expression.
"Come listen to the song we made."
Nijika relaxed a little upon hearing that and muttered,
"You're trying to gloss over it... Fine, but if the song is too weird, I won't agree to sing it."
Still, she obediently let Ishikawa Hayato press her into the office chair and accepted the headphones he handed over.
Watching Nijika put on the headphones,
Ishikawa Hayato put on an adorably bashful smile in front of her and said,
"Nijika really is an angel~"
Nijika's gaze turned much colder, and she sighed.
"Hayato-kun thinks I'm an idiot, doesn't he?"
Though she said that, her face showed that she did not intend to pursue it further as she put on the headphones.
After watching Nijika click play on the computer,
Ishikawa Hayato smiled and gave a thumbs-up to Ryo behind him, who inexplicably wore a sighing expression, looking as though everything had been settled.
"Nijika is so easy to deal with..."
Ryo said that without noticing Nijika's ears twitch slightly.
Ishikawa Hayato noticed that Nijika did not seem to be focusing on the music in her headphones, but he said nothing.
Looking relaxed as though his mission was complete, he smiled at Ryo and said,
"Then, from today onward, we're accomplices."
"Mm."
Ryo nodded calmly, looking at the man before her.
Only afterward did she gradually understand the deeper meaning behind what he had done.
"Let's make the band weird together. Don't suddenly get disappointed and run away one day, okay?"
"You're younger than me, yet you really dare to say that."
"Oh my, my apologies, big sister accomplice."
Secretly adjusting the headphone volume, Nijika listened to the calm yet harmonious conversation behind her and finally relaxed completely.
Then, no longer caring what those two were saying, she listened to the song and picked up the lyrics on the desk, which had timestamps marked on them, to take a look.
But only for an instant.
Nijika's eyes froze, then she blinked several times in a row as though doubting what she had seen.
Behind her, the two noticed her reaction and looked at her curiously.
Nijika ripped off the headphones and shot to her feet. With a strained face, clenched fists, and imposing momentum, she shouted as though she could not endure it any longer,
"Seal this song away!!"
Ishikawa Hayato mischievously put on a pitiful look and pleaded loudly,
"No!"
Nijika, who would have compromised a little in the past, gave no ground whatsoever this time and shouted,
"It absolutely has to be sealed away! Kessoku Band is not a band that sings this kind of song!"
"Pfft."
Watching Ishikawa Hayato, who clearly knew they could not sing this song yet deliberately teased Nijika and kept pleading, Ryo let out a small laugh.
Just then, a ringtone sounded from Nijika's pocket. She stopped arguing and took out her phone in surprise.
Ishikawa Hayato also stopped fooling around at the right moment.
Looking at the caller ID, Nijika asked in confusion, "Sis?"
Only then did she suddenly remember that she had not replied to the two messages her sister had sent earlier. Just as she hurriedly prepared to answer,
Ishikawa Hayato suddenly grabbed her hand and stopped her from answering.
Nijika looked at him in complete confusion.
Holding her arm, Ishikawa Hayato led her to the window and looked outside from a concealed angle.
There, Seika stood at Ryo's front door, panting heavily. She held her phone to her ear, listening anxiously with all her attention.
Ryo, who had also come over, revealed an amused smile when she saw Seika.
"Just what you'd expect from sisters."
Nijika froze, then stomped her foot hard in irritation.
"You two have such awful personalities!"
In the end, they all walked back to STARRY together.
However, Seika walked alone ahead of them like a lone wolf, while Ishikawa Hayato, Nijika, and Ryo followed behind.
Thinking of Seika's stunned expression when they came out earlier, how her face had instantly turned red, and how she had pretended nothing happened before immediately turning around and walking away in a tsundere manner,
Ishikawa Hayato could not stop smiling.
The two girls beside him both looked at this guy full of bad ideas with disgust.
Very quickly, Ishikawa Hayato came up with an idea.
Without giving Nijika a chance to stop him, and amid Ryo's amused, spectator-like smile, he skipped lightly toward the front.
Before you continue