Why Play in a Band If Not Forever

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

"Uh? I didn't think it was necessary. Anyway, I can provide anything you need, so whether I tell you or not doesn't really matter. If I did, you might become overly reliant on my abilities..."

"...And besides, you wouldn't want to know that I can monitor you 24 hours a day, right?"

Marina's face looked extremely awkward. "So, just like I haven't told anyone that you go out every night, you can keep this a secret for me too, okay?"

Shiko's expression suddenly turned strange.

"...Is that not okay?" Marina thought Shiko disagreed.

"No, it's just... by the door..." Shiko pointed to the entrance of the secret room, where Miss Niiki stood with her arms crossed, looking at them with a fond, aunt-like smile.

It's a shame I see you make an entrance like this every time. Shiko thought with a slight disdain and left while Miss Niiki was saying something like, "Marina, you're still so kind."

Chapter 23: Bocchi's Source of Inspiration

This day, no one went out. CiRCLE's energy was already overflowing, and Miss Marina had given everyone a day off.

However, CiRCLE was facing an unprecedented crisis! It was no longer time for a vacation!

Marina, Shiko, Miss Niiki, and the entire Kessoku Band—excluding Ichiri—were sighing around the long conference table.

"I've made a grave mistake," Nijika said, standing up with her head bowed amidst the solemn atmosphere. "I will bear all the consequences..."

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

"Yes, now is not the time to talk about that. We need to figure out how to fix this first." Marina and Miss Niiki, being the seniors, were slightly calmer.

"Can we even fix it... it's already... like this..." Nijika slumped onto the table, burying her face deeply in her arms. She was usually so gentle, but at this moment, everyone realized she was also just a normal girl.

"It's all Bocchi's fault. I didn't do a good job either, and I'm not as extreme as she is." Only one person in the conference room was slacking off.

"Shut up." Everyone else shot her icy glares.

"We can definitely, definitely do it!" Marina said, patting Nijika's back with concern. She turned to Shiko. "Shiko-san, how is Gotou-san?"

The entire conference room fell silent, awaiting the final verdict.

"..." Shiko tightly clenched her fists, her entire face trembling.

"...Go ahead, we're prepared."

"...Hee."

Shiko suddenly burst out laughing, pounding the table with her hands, laughing unrestrainedly, even mixing in her hometown dialect with Japanese.

"Hahahahahaha--! It's so funny! It's so funny! Her, her, you should really see her! I really--"

The entire conference room couldn't hold back. Ryo, Kita, and Nijika, one after another, were drawn in. Although some of them had their conscience, knowing that this situation wasn't something to laugh about, their lips involuntarily curled into smiles.

On this day, CiRCLE's average moral bottom line reached its lowest point.

"Hehehehe... Your personality is quite wicked... Hehehe..." Ryo said, pointing at Shiko while laughing.

"Come! I'll imitate her previous state!" Shiko suddenly stopped laughing and stood in the open space.

Everyone watched her. She took a deep breath, suddenly slumped to the floor, stared blankly at the ceiling, and drooled from the corner of her mouth.

For the next half-minute, Shiko maintained this posture, only her arms twitching. Suddenly, she jumped up and paced around the room as if no one else was there, her steps becoming increasingly flamboyant. She even started doing the ghost dance! Then she stood up straight, struck a pose of embracing the sun towards the east, immediately returned to center, clasped her hands together, and chanted, "Namu Jizo Bosatsu!"

Shiko's vivid performance caused another wave of laughter. However, Nijika, the kindest among them, immediately stopped it and ordered everyone back to their seats to discuss a plan to "help Bocchi return to normal."

"Since we started working on our new song, it's been..."

"Seven times the peach tree after CiRCLE bloomed, and seven times the petals fell. I've also eaten the peaches on it seven times," Shiko interjected. Her mind was still in a state of excitement.

Nijika ignored her and continued to summarize the current situation. "In short, because Bocchi has been unable to write lyrics for a long time, her mental state is completely off! For the past two days, she hasn't gone out, and her behavior patterns are becoming increasingly..." She couldn't find a suitable adjective.

"Interesting," Ryo said, covering her mouth.

"..." Nijika paused, then clapped her hands. "In short! I'm asking everyone to help me think of a way to get Bocchi back to normal!"

"To help her recover, we need to help her write lyrics normally, right?" Marina said.

"Can't we just write the lyrics for her? If she doesn't have inspiration this time, she can try harder next time, right?" Kita, as the lead vocalist, naturally wanted to write lyrics herself.

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

Nijika winced. "Hearing you say that makes it feel so real..."

Thus, the group decided on the direction of their discussion.

"Inspiration... inspiration... we need to help Bocchi find inspiration..." Nijika pondered deeply.

"Why don't we first think about how she used to write lyrics?" Marina reminded them, having experienced similar things herself.

Everyone recalled the last time Ichiri wrote lyrics.

"Ugh--"

The dark room.

Seven days and seven nights.

It didn't seem to offer much reference.

"Hmm... although I don't know much about your situation last time," Miss Niiki couldn't help but interject, "I heard that Shiko-san spent the most time with Gotou-san. What do you think?"

"Me?" Shiko was surprised to be called on. "I know her source of inspiration, though."

"What?" All eyes turned to her.

"It's just... I don't know if I should say this, but all her lyrics come from her own dark experiences in life. Maybe she's been so happy living with us lately that she hasn't had much inspiration?" Compared to before, Shiko had indeed seen more smiles on Ichiri's face.

"Dark experiences?" This concept was a bit abstract for the two sunshine characters present. "What kind specifically?"

Shiko propped herself on the table and recalled for a moment. "For example... I have a friend."

The others here didn't get the reference and waited earnestly for her to continue.

"One day, she didn't prepare a bento box for some reason, so she had to eat alone at the school cafeteria for lunch."

(Why did she have to eat alone?) Kita was a little confused, but out of politeness, she didn't interrupt.

"While she was queuing, the people in front of her were all noisy groups of popular kids. And, halfway through the line, someone casually cut in front of her, chatting and laughing with others, not even looking at her." Shiko's words were laced with heavy resentment.

"Who would do that? Have some consideration for others!" Nijika muttered softly. Still, she felt like it was something one of her friends might do.

Cold sweat beaded on Kita's forehead as she began to wonder if she had ever made such a mistake. (I'm sure I always asked the people behind me for permission, right? Does this kind of thing make people feel this bad?)

"And by the time she finally got her food, there were hardly any empty seats left in the cafeteria. After much effort, she found a table for one in a corner."

"She quickly sat down, and hadn't even taken two bites." Shiko paused here.

"And then?" Nijika tensed up.

"Two people sat down next to her!" Shiko sounded like she was recalling a horrific past. "Those two also just sat down without asking, and then pulled in other people. The whole table was full of them, all laughing and chatting, and I didn't know any of them!"

Unconsciously, her pronoun usage had shifted.

"Huh?" Nijika realized something and slowly stood up from her chair, flustered and trying to stop her.

But it was too late. Shiko was completely immersed in the painful memory. "Not to mention, I was sitting on the inside! I quickly ate, but if I wanted to leave, I'd have to interrupt their happy conversation and say, 'Excuse me, could you let me pass?'!!!"

Shiko couldn't hold on any longer. Since her past life, such desperate experiences had become her daily routine. Just thinking about it made her want to turn into a witch. Nijika, understanding completely, sadly took Shiko's hand. "It's all over now, it's all over..."

Hearing this, Ryo felt scared. Thankfully, Nijika would never forget her bento.

"I'm sorry..." Kita thought about it more and more, wondering if she had ever done something like this. It had seemed so natural at the time...

"No, Kita, I believe you're different from those damnable popular kids!" The more forgiving Shiko was, the more guilty Kita felt, even though she hadn't actually done anything like that before.

Seeing the conversation veering in an unpredictable direction, Marina intervened in time. "But, will this help Gotou-san find inspiration?"

Everyone was still at a loss. Such tragic experiences were unlikely to be replicated at CiRCLE.

"How about we ostracize her?" Shiko quickly recovered and swiftly turned to the side of villainy!

Nijika returned to her seat. "Okay, no more suggestions from Little Shiko."

"Eh? 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 it was time to eat.

Just like last time, Ichiri locked herself in her little room, and of course, she wasn't at the table. After the meal, Marina gave her a special packed lunch and asked Shiko to deliver it. Shiko, however, wasn't in a hurry. She first put the bento in a thermal container and went into the underground storage room herself. After a while, she came back up carrying a stack of CDs.

Taking the bento and CDs, she knocked on the backstage door.

Chapter 24: Each Showing Their True Colors (Happy Children's Day, Happy Momo's Birthday~)

That Band could be said to be Ryo's character song.

The lyrics of That Band basically deny the monotony of popular music and emphasize self-importance. This perfectly aligns with Ryo's personality: pursuing individuality and unconventionality. Shiko didn't know how the original lyrics were created, but she could try to provide such conditions.

"Ichiri, your meal." Shiko stood at the door and knocked with her elbow.

The door opened a crack, and Shiko squeezed in.

Standing before her was Gotou-Ichiri, who had collapsed mentally from being unable to write lyrics. Seeing her squeeze in, Ichiri showed no reaction, just stared blankly at the food in her hands. Noticing her state, Shiko placed her things on the table and looked around. It was noticeably messier than the last time Ichiri had pulled her in. Shiko wisely ignored it.

"I'm here to help you find inspiration this time." While Ichiri ate, Shiko got straight to the point.

Ichiri ate silently, shoveling rice into her mouth. Shiko couldn't stand it and started by teaching her how to use chopsticks.

Without regard for whether she could understand now, Shiko continued.

"Inspiration. You probably can't write lyrics because your life has been too good lately, with no complaints, right?"

Ichiri looked up slightly, tears welling in her eyes.

"If you have no complaints, I'll help you create some." Shiko then added kindly, "Of course, I won't ostracize you."

Ichiri looked confused.

After Ichiri finished eating, Shiko pulled her to the computer desk, forced her to sit down, and took out some rope, winding it around Ichiri to tie her up.

"P-please, what exactly are you trying to do?" Ichiri finally came to her senses, trembling and trying to struggle, but Shiko was prepared. A pair of handcuffs was quickly fastened, and soon, Ichiri was immobilized in her seat, at Shiko's mercy.

Shiko licked her lips and took off her jacket.

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

Shiko ignored her protests and turned to pick up a CD.

"Eh?"

"Come on, Youth Song Marathon!" Shiko announced cheerfully. "Ichiri, your lyrics stem from dissatisfaction with the world, and one representative example is your dissatisfaction with 'youth songs'! From CiRCLE's storage, I can find all sorts of live recordings. The clips I've chosen are all 'youth songs'! They'll definitely make you dissatisfied all day long!"

Youth songs? Youth songs!

No, no, no, absolutely not... Even if it's to find inspiration... Ichiri's face had just begun to contort when Shiko tapped her head with a CD case, her smile eerie. "Please, it's all for your own good. If you still can't write lyrics, then we'll..."

"We'll, ju,st, he,lp, you, wri,te, them, all! And after that..."

"We, wo,n't, bo,the,r, you, a,nymore, okay!"

Ichiri believed she was looking at the devil incarnate.

Seeing Ichiri nod weakly, Shiko opened her laptop with satisfaction. Finding these recordings hadn't taken her long. There was little entertainment at CiRCLE, and her biggest hobby was watching these live recordings. Ryo was also a loyal viewer of these CDs; they had even fought over the priority to watch Roselia's new song release live. The songs she had found now were works that Ryo had called "purely following trends," and they were also purely "youth songs," hitting both of their pet peeves. Shiko was confident they would definitely allow Ichiri to write about That Band from her memories!

Of course, she absolutely didn't want to see Ichiri go crazy. Absolutely not.

The CD was already inserted, and Ichiri watched the scene, swallowing hard.

"Are you ready? Then, first song, let's begin." Shiko grinned and clicked the mouse.

A lively intro began. To be honest, from Shiko's perspective, this band's performance wasn't enough to give her that kirakira-dokidoki feeling, but it was sufficient in terms of the "youth song" concept. So, what kind of impact would this music have on Ichiri?

"Waaahhhhhh--" Ichiri screamed as if undergoing torture. Her face was as pale as snow, as if her whole body was being heavily struck. If Shiko hadn't reached out to check if there were any damaging sound waves, she would have thought Ryo was hiding here playing a cruel prank.

"No-- no-- please-- aaaaaahhhhh--" Faced with Ichiri's screams, Shiko remained calm, unmoved, only averting her gaze slightly. This song was only halfway through; there was still plenty for Ichiri to endure. It was all for her own good anyway...

The song ended. Ichiri had already fainted. Looking at Ichiri like this, Shiko's dwindling conscience ached somewhat. She began to hesitate: how should she wake her up? Should she splash her with a bucket of water like a bully, or do something fairytale-like but unwriteable