The Source of Kagekaku's Inspiration / Everyone Shows What They Can Do (Happy Children's Day, and Happy Birthday to Nyamumu~)

"Why didn't you tell us?" She turned to look at the plainly dressed woman behind her.

"Uh? I didn't think it was necessary. In any case, I can provide whatever you need as best I can. Telling you or not wouldn't make much difference. If I told you, you might become overly dependent on my abilities..."

"...Besides, you wouldn't want to know that I can monitor you twenty-four hours a day, would you?"

Marina looked extremely awkward. "So, just as I didn't tell anyone that you sneak out every night, keep this a secret for me too, okay?"

Shiko's expression suddenly turned strange.

"...Is that a problem?" Marina thought Shiko disagreed.

"No, it's just... by the door..." Shiko pointed toward the secret room's entrance. Miss Niiki stood there with her arms folded, watching them with a knowing smile.

It's a shame I have to see you make entrances like this every time. Shiko complained inwardly for a moment, then left while Niiki was saying something like, "Marina, you're still as gentle as ever."

The Twenty-Third Chapter: The Introvert's Source of Inspiration

On this day, nobody went out. CiRCLE's energy had already overflowed, and Miss Marina had given everyone the day off.

However, CiRCLE was going through an unprecedented crisis! This was no time for a vacation!

Marina, Shiko, Niiki, and every member of Kessoku Band except Ichiri were sitting around the conference room's long table, sighing heavily.

"I've made a terrible mistake." In the heavy atmosphere, Nijika stood up with her head bowed. "I'm willing to bear any consequences..."

Kita hurriedly stood and grabbed her. "Don't say that. We're responsible too."

"Exactly. This isn't the time to talk about that. We need to think of a way to fix things." Marina and Niiki were seniors, after all, and were a little calmer.

"Can it really be fixed... It's already... like this..." Nijika slammed herself onto the table and buried her face in her arms. She was usually so gentle, but at times like this, everyone realized that she was still just an ordinary girl.

"It's Bocchi's own problem. I didn't do a good job either, but I'm nowhere near as extreme as her." Only one person in the conference room remained flippant.

"Shut up." Everyone answered her with icy glares.

"It'll definitely, definitely be okay!" Marina stroked Nijika's back sympathetically, then turned to Shiko. "Shiko, how is Gotou-san?"

The entire conference room fell silent, waiting for the final verdict.

"..." Shiko clenched both fists tightly. Her whole face trembled.

"...Tell us. We're prepared."

"...Hee."

Shiko suddenly burst out. She hammered both hands against the table and laughed wildly, even mixing her hometown dialect into her Japanese.

"Hee-hahahahahaha—! Why is this so funny! Why is this so funny! She—she—you really should see her! I seriously—"

The entire conference room could no longer hold back. Ryo, Kita, and Nijika were swept up one after another. Some of them still had enough conscience to know they shouldn't laugh, but the corners of their mouths still rose uncontrollably.

On this day, CiRCLE's average moral standard reached an all-time low.

"Heh heh heh heh... You've got a pretty nasty personality... heh heh heh..." Ryo laughed while pointing at Shiko.

"Come on! I'll imitate what she was like before." Shiko abruptly stopped laughing and stepped into the open space.

Everyone watched her. She took a deep breath, then suddenly collapsed onto the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling as drool trickled from the corner of her mouth.

For the next thirty seconds, Shiko maintained that pose, with only her arms twitching repeatedly. Suddenly, she sprang up and paced around the room as though nobody else existed, her steps growing more and more coquettish. She even broke into a shuffle dance! Then she straightened, faced east, and struck a pose embracing the sun. Immediately afterward, she turned back around, pressed her palms together, and chanted, "Homage to Kṣitigarbha Bodhisattva!"

Shiko's lifelike performance provoked another round of laughter. Nijika, the kindest of them all, quickly stopped herself and ordered everyone back to their seats to discuss the "Make Little Bocchi Normal Again" plan.

"Ever since we began composing our new song, we've been through..."

"The peach tree behind CiRCLE has bloomed seven times and shed its flowers seven times. I've eaten my fill of its peaches seven times too." Shiko interrupted. Her mind was still in an excited state.

Nijika ignored her and continued summarizing the situation. "In short, because she's been unable to write lyrics for so long, Little Bocchi's mental state has completely deteriorated! She hasn't gone out for the past two days, and her behavior is becoming more and more..." She couldn't find a suitable description.

"Interesting." Ryo covered her mouth.

"..." Nijika paused, then clapped her hands. "Anyway! Please help me think of a way to make Little Bocchi return to normal!"

"If we want her to recover, we have to help her write lyrics normally, right?" Marina said.

"Can't we just write the lyrics ourselves? If she lacks inspiration this time, she can try harder next time, can't she?" As the vocalist, Kita naturally wanted to write lyrics herself for once.

"No." Shiko firmly objected. "If we write the lyrics for her, she'll definitely think, Ah, I'm so useless, or I don't deserve to stay in this band if I even need other people to finish my lyrics for me, and have an even bigger breakdown..."

Nijika sweated. "Now that you put it that way, I can really picture it..."

Thus, everyone decided on the direction of their discussion.

"Inspiration... inspiration... We need to find Little Bocchi some inspiration..." Nijika racked her brains.

"How about thinking about how she wrote lyrics before?" Marina suggested. She had experienced something similar herself.

Everyone recalled Ichiri's previous lyric-writing session.

"Ugh—"

The dark room.

Seven days and seven nights.

It didn't seem very useful as a reference.

"Um... Although I don't know much about what happened last time," Niiki couldn't help interrupting, "I heard that Shiko spent the most time with Gotou-san, right? What do you think?"

"Me?" Shiko hadn't expected to be called on. "I do know where her inspiration comes from."

"What?" Everyone's eyes surrounded her.

"It's just... I don't know how to put this. All her lyrics come from the dark experiences in her life. Maybe she's been living happily with us lately, so she has less of that inspiration?" Compared with before, Shiko had indeed seen Ichiri smile much more often.

"Dark experiences?" That was somewhat abstract to the two extroverts in the room. "What kind, specifically?"

Shiko lay on the table and thought for a moment. "For example... I have a friend."

Nobody here understood the joke, so they waited seriously for her to continue.

"One day, she failed to prepare a packed lunch because of something, so she could only go eat alone in the school cafeteria at noon."

(Why did she have to go alone?) Kita was puzzled, but out of politeness, she didn't interrupt.

"While she was lining up, everyone ahead of her was a noisy group of lively students. Then, halfway through the line, someone casually cut in front of her, chatting and laughing with the others without even looking at her." Heavy resentment entered Shiko's voice.

"What kind of person does that? Think about other people!" Nijika muttered. Still, she felt that one of her friends might actually do something like that.

Kita broke into a cold sweat as she tried to remember whether she had ever committed such a sin. (I always ask the people behind me for permission, right? Can this really make someone feel so awful?)

"By the time she finally bought her food, the cafeteria was almost out of empty seats. At last, she found a table in the corner with nobody sitting at it."

"She hurried over and sat down. She hadn't even taken two bites." Shiko paused.

"And then?" Nijika grew nervous.

"Two people sat down beside her!" Shiko looked as though she were recalling a terrifying past. "They sat down as if they owned the place, then brought over more people. The whole table had been empty except for me, and suddenly it was packed! They were all laughing and joking, while I didn't know any of them at all!"

Without realizing it, she had switched entirely to speaking in the first person.

"Huh?" Nijika realized what was happening. She slowly rose from her chair and hurriedly tried to stop her.

But it was too late. Shiko had completely immersed herself in the painful memory. "Not to mention that I was sitting all the way inside! I hurried to finish eating, but if I wanted to leave, I had to say, 'Excuse me, could you move for a moment?' while they were happily chatting!!!"

Shiko could hold on no longer. Since her previous life, experiences like this had practically been part of her daily routine. Just thinking about them nearly turned her into a witch. How could Nijika not understand? She compassionately took Shiko's hand. "It's all over now. It's all over..."

Even Ryo found the story frightening. Fortunately, Nijika would never forget her packed lunch.

"I'm sorry..." The more Kita thought about it, the more wrong she felt. Had she ever done something like that? At the time, it had seemed perfectly natural...

"No, Kita. I believe you're different from those damned lively students!" The more forgiving Shiko was, the guiltier Kita felt, even though she really had never done that.

Seeing the topic veering toward an unpredictable direction, Marina promptly corrected it. "But will this help us find inspiration for Gotou-san?"

Everyone was still at a loss. Such tragic experiences would probably be difficult to recreate at CiRCLE.

"How about isolating her?" Shiko recovered at lightning speed and swiftly switched to the side of evil!

Nijika returned to her seat and sat down. "All right. Little Shiko is forbidden from making any more suggestions."

"Huh? Why?"

"I have an idea..." Kita raised her hand.

By the time the meeting ended, it was nearly noon. To take care of everyone's stomachs, Nijika announced that it was time to eat.

As last time, Ichiri had locked herself in the dark room, so she was naturally absent from the dining table. After the meal, Marina prepared a special boxed lunch for her and asked Shiko to deliver it. Shiko wasn't in a hurry, though. She first put the lunch in a thermal container, then went down to the underground storeroom alone. After a while, she carried up a stack of CDs.

With the lunch and CDs in hand, she knocked on the backstage door.

The Twenty-Fourth Chapter: Everyone Shows Their Skills (Happy Children's Day, and happy birthday to Nyamemu~)

That Band could be called Ryo's character song.

The lyrics of That Band mainly expressed rejection of monotonous pop music and the importance of the self. This matched Ryo's personality perfectly: pursuing individuality and refusing to be bound by convention. Shiko didn't know how the song's original lyrics had been written, but she could try to recreate those conditions.

"Ichiri, food." Shiko stood at the door and knocked on it with her elbow.

The door opened a crack. Shiko pushed it open and squeezed inside.

Standing before her was Gotou Ichiri, whose spirit had broken down after being unable to write lyrics for so long. When Ichiri saw her squeeze in, she showed no reaction, merely staring blankly at the food in Shiko's hands. Seeing her expression, Shiko put everything on the table and looked around. Compared with the last time Ichiri had dragged her in, the room was clearly much messier. Shiko wisely ignored it.

"I came this time to help you find inspiration." Shiko got to the point while Ichiri ate.

Ichiri silently shoveled food into her mouth. Shiko couldn't stand watching, so she first began teaching her how to use chopsticks.

Regardless of whether Ichiri understood her, Shiko continued.

"Inspiration. You haven't had any complaints lately because your life has been too good, so you can't write lyrics at all, right?"

Ichiri raised her head slightly, tears shimmering in her eyes.

"Since you have no complaints, I'll help create some for you." Shiko kindly added, "Of course, I won't isolate you."

Ichiri was confused.

After Ichiri finished eating, Shiko dragged her to the computer desk and forcibly seated her. She then took out a hemp rope and began tying her up, loop by loop.

"P-please... What exactly are you trying to do?" Ichiri finally came to her senses and trembled as she struggled. But Shiko was prepared. She had already snapped a pair of handcuffs shut, and before long, Ichiri was unable to move in her seat, completely at Shiko's mercy.

Shiko licked her lips and took off her coat.

"Eek—I-I'm not that kind of person..." Ichiri was about to explode.

Ignoring her objections, Shiko turned and picked up a CD.

"Huh?"

"Come on, Youth Song Marathon!" Shiko announced cheerfully. "Ichiri, your lyrics come from your dissatisfaction with the world. One representative form of that is dissatisfaction with youth songs! In CiRCLE's storeroom, I found all kinds of live recordings. Every clip I picked is youth-themed! They'll definitely make you dissatisfied for the entire day!"

Youth songs? Youth-themed songs!

No, no, no, no, absolutely not... Even if it's for inspiration... Ichiri's face had only just begun twisting when Shiko smacked her on the head with the CD case. Her smile was eerie. "Please, this is all for your own good. If you still can't write lyrics, then we'll..."

"Just help you finish writing them! And afterward..."

"We won't trouble you anymore, either!"

Ichiri believed she had seen the devil himself.

Seeing Ichiri nod weakly, Shiko was satisfied and turned on the computer. Finding these recordings hadn't taken long. There was little entertainment at CiRCLE, and watching live recordings was usually her greatest hobby. Ryo was also a devoted viewer of these CDs. They had once even fought over who got to watch Roselia's new-song release live first. All the songs Shiko had found had been judged by Ryo as "pure bandwagon garbage," and they were all purely youth-themed. They combined both girls' pet peeves, so Shiko was certain they would make Ichiri write the That Band she remembered!

Of course, she absolutely wasn't trying to watch Ichiri have a breakdown. Absolutely not.

The CD had been inserted. Watching this, Ichiri swallowed.

"Ready? Then, the first song starts." Shiko grinned and clicked the mouse.

A lively intro rang out. To be honest, from Shiko's perspective, although this band's performance wasn't enough to give her a kirakiradokidoki feeling, it was more than youth-themed enough. So what kind of impact would music like this have on Ichiri?

"Waaahhhhhhh—" Ichiri screamed as though she were being tortured. Her face was as white as snow, as if her whole body were being struck. If Shiko hadn't reached out to check and confirmed that there were no harmful sound waves, she would have thought Ryo was hiding somewhere and indulging in a cruel prank.

"No—no—please—I beg you—aaahhh—" Faced with Ichiri's screams, Shiko remained completely composed, though she turned her eyes slightly away. The song was only halfway finished. There was still plenty left for Ichiri to endure. It was all for her own good, anyway...

The song ended. Ichiri had already passed out. Looking at her, Shiko's little remaining conscience began to ache. She hesitated. How should she wake her? Should she splash a bucket of water over her like a thug, or try something storybook-like but impossible to write about...