He skipped to a stop beside Seika, clasping both hands behind his head and leaning forward to look at her expressionless face.
Then he teased her.
"Eh, so the manager's a little-sister fanatic. Well, fair enough. With a little sister as cute as Nijika, you can't help becoming one."
"I have a little sister too, but she's way too dumb, so I could never become a little-sister fanatic."
"With a little sister as cute as Nijika, of course you'd worry about her wherever she went."
"Especially since you've already become a little-sister fanatic, right?"
"Little-sister fanatic." As though savoring the phrase, he raised his head and chewed it over with a blissful expression.
Then he sighed.
"How wonderful."
The two girls behind them hadn't heard Ishikawa Hayato's deliberately lowered voice.
They could only see him saying something to Seika with an extremely punchable expression, and as he kept talking—
Seika first quickened her pace for a few steps, but after failing to shake him off, she stopped.
She stood there with her fists clenched, trembling all over.
Finally, she let out a furious roar.
"Drop dead!!"
Then she charged at Ishikawa Hayato as if she had snapped. The two of them sprinted down the streets of Shimokitazawa, quickly disappearing from Nijika and Ryo's sight.
Nijika stared blankly at her sister's enraged state, something she had never seen before, unable to look away for a long time.
"What an incredible man."
Ryo said this admiringly, while deciding to ask Ishikawa Hayato later exactly what he had said to make Seika, who normally only threw out a few harsh words but was otherwise good-tempered, this angry.
Opposition
When Ryo and Nijika returned to STARRY, they saw a scene beyond anything they could have imagined.
Seika sat calmly at the STARRY counter, while Ishikawa Hayato was smiling as he danced a hula in the hall.
He held pom-poms from who knew where, with a grass skirt around his waist that swished back and forth. Combined with his sunny, handsome face, he drew the attention of all the bands that had arrived early at the live house.
Nijika even heard a band nearby whisper, "We could use that format for our MC next time."
As for why they were whispering...
Nijika looked at her sister sitting at the counter, calmly drinking.
Behind Seika, the raging veins on the face of an asura with three heads and six arms were spurting blood.
Ryo thought for a moment, then looked at the harmonious scene and said,
"Even a calming spell probably couldn't ease the manager's killing intent now."
As she spoke, several shards of glass popped off the glass Seika was holding.
For the sake of her sister's blood pressure, Nijika hurried over and grabbed Ishikawa Hayato.
"Hayato-kun, stop bullying my sister~!"
As she spoke, she stretched out her hand, held her fingers together like a blade, and knocked him on the head.
Ishikawa Hayato let her do it, still wearing a cheerful smile when she hit him.
But when Seika saw that scene, the glass in her hand was instantly crushed into fragments.
"Guitar is too hard to learn!!"
Elsewhere, in the room, Kita set the guitar on the floor and let out a miserable wail.
She knelt on the floor, looking at the guitar Ryo-senpai had lent her, then looked tearfully at Bocchi across from her, who was holding a guitar.
Though she was the one doing the teaching, Bocchi wasn't angry at all when she heard Kita say that. Instead, she looked worried and uneasy.
Still, Kita couldn't help asking.
"Gotou-san, is keyboard really not easier to learn than guitar?"
Bocchi saw why Kita was asking and explained,
"Ah... yes. The keyboard is an instrument that requires an enormous amount of music theory knowledge, and long-term practice before you can use it well."
"Um... Kita-chan is already learning very quickly, so don't rush."
As Bocchi comforted Kita, she couldn't help thinking of someone Kita hadn't mentioned even once, yet seemed to be referring to at every turn.
But Hayato seemed to learn things very quickly too. At the start of school, he had said he couldn't play any instruments.
But that had to have been a lie, right?
If it were true, then learning keyboard so quickly and even being able to perform onstage would be far too amazing.
Someone like that... someone like that saying he could support her...
"Sorry, I said something discouraging..."
Kita knew she didn't really have the right to complain. Everyone else besides her could play an instrument. Joining the band hadn't given them much help; instead, she had only held them back.
She picked up the guitar again and sat back down in her chair.
But after she finished speaking, she noticed that Bocchi beside her was strangely quiet.
She looked toward Bocchi.
Across from her, Bocchi had her head lowered, her shoulders trembling slightly. Seeing Bocchi's strange behavior, Kita lowered her head curiously to look at her face.
Beneath Bocchi's bangs, she saw a blissful, somewhat creepy smile, along with an absent-minded gaze fixed on a fantasy world.
For some reason, Kita felt a little uneasy and wary.
After hesitating, she reached out and gently nudged Bocchi.
"Gotou-san? Gotou-san?"
Bocchi abruptly snapped back to reality from the nudge. The moment she raised her head and saw Kita so close in front of her, she instinctively panicked and backed away. But after taking two steps, she immediately realized she had overreacted.
She hurriedly stood straight and apologized to Kita.
"Ah! Y-yes, sorry."
Kita didn't mind her overly intense reaction at all. Instead, she spoke gently to Bocchi.
"No, I should be the one apologizing. I suddenly startled you, Gotou-san."
As she spoke, her blue-green eyes shifted thoughtfully before she asked Bocchi,
"Gotou-san, do you have someone you like?"
"Eh... asking that all of a sudden..."
Bocchi shyly didn't answer directly, but Kita saw every one of her flustered movements and reactions.
Kita sat upright again, wearing a broad smile as she said,
"Sorry, Gotou-san. Practice has been a little tiring, and I suddenly wanted to talk about girl stuff."
"But never mind for now. Let's continue."
After practicing for quite a long time, Bocchi and Kita realized it was getting late and hurried out of the rehearsal room.
Then they saw Seika sulking at the counter, so upset that even Nijika couldn't soothe her.
There was also PA-san at a nearby table, covering her face as she laughed, while Ishikawa Hayato and Ryo were each doing their own thing in separate corners.
They felt as though they had completely missed some major drama while practicing all afternoon.
Nijika, who felt there was no hope of comforting her sister, looked over after hearing the commotion.
She decisively gave up on her sister, who she couldn't handle for the moment, and walked toward the two girls.
"Oh~ Kita-chan, Bocchi-chan, are you done practicing?"
As she left, Seika, who had completely ignored Nijika's attempts to comfort her just moments ago, turned and glanced at her.
Meanwhile, Kita gave Nijika a slight bow.
"Yes, I'm very sorry for occupying the rehearsal room for so long."
Beside her, Bocchi seemed not to have thought of that and was about to hurriedly imitate Kita's movement when—
"No need to be so polite. No one uses it normally anyway."
Nijika repeatedly waved her hands in refusal.
Seeing the band members gathered together again, Ishikawa Hayato also walked over from the corner and waved at Kita.
"How's our NEW STAR doing? You didn't cry halfway through practice and say, 'It's too hard, I can't do it,' or something, right?"
Kita had been feeling a little down after hearing the first part, but when she heard the latter half, she froze and stared at Ishikawa Hayato in disbelief.
Even Ishikawa Hayato was stunned by her expression.
So that really had happened.
His tone shifted as he thought that.
"Well, don't rush. Music is more fun when you take it slow."
Seeing Ishikawa Hayato finally act like a human being for once today, Nijika said with some surprise and slight happiness,
"Hayato-kun is right, Kita-chan. Don't push yourself so hard that you hurt yourself."
After practice ended and the shop began to get busy, Kita and Bocchi prepared to head home, with Ishikawa Hayato leaving alongside them.
At STARRY's entrance, Nijika leaned half her body out from inside and said goodbye to the three of them.
"Kita-chan, Bocchi-chan, Hayato-kun, tomorrow is your first day working, so don't forget."
"Bye."
Beside her, Ryo didn't say anything else, merely giving a lazy wave.
"Mm, I remember."
Ishikawa Hayato nodded in response, then looked to the side. As expected, he saw Bocchi's face with all her features twisted around, an expression that could probably scare someone half to death if they saw it suddenly.
Fortunately, he was beginning to get used to it.
Even beneath that chaotic expression, Bocchi was still capable of holding a conversation. She nodded hesitantly. "Ah, okay."
Then Ishikawa Hayato looked at Kita, who stood several steps above them.
Feeling like she was about to be noticed, Kita hurriedly shifted her gaze away from Ishikawa Hayato and solemnly assured Nijika and Ryo at the entrance,
"I'll work hard, so please leave the job to me!"
"Oh~ How reliable."
Nijika smiled faintly.
On the way home that day.
Kita secretly observed the two people beside her.
Ishikawa-kun was the same as before, matching their slower pace as he walked alongside them while casually observing their surroundings.
But Gotou-san was different.
Before you continue