If You Don't Form a Band for Life, What's the Point of Playing in a Band

"That band? What's that?" Despite feeling something was off, Kita asked.

It was enough. Shiko closed her eyes, then slowly opened them, her expression now blank. She handed the notebook back to Ichiri and turned to leave.

"Shiko?" Ichiri took the notebook, not looking at it, and stared blankly in the direction Shiko had gone.

Ichiri placed the notebook back on the table and chased after her. On the open page of the notebook was the title: Guitar and Loneliness and the Blue Planet.

Shiko just kept walking, not knowing where to stop. When she came to her senses, she was standing on a rocky beach.

In the night sky, a shooting star streaked across.

Chapter 27: Long-Awaited Tears

October 2022.

"What's most impressive about this show is how masterfully it portrays the protagonist's social anxiety..."

On the laptop screen, a YouTuber was reviewing new anime. The last recommendation was a music anime called Bocchi the Rock!. Shiko—she wasn't called that name yet—was sitting in front of the computer.

"Social anxiety... maybe I should watch it?" she muttered to herself.

After entering her third year of high school, she didn't have much time to watch anime. She was only following one or two new shows in October, and Bocchi the Rock! wasn't among them.

"I haven't really watched music anime before..." Shiko found a source, downloaded it, and played it.

Within the first five minutes of the first episode, she was in love with Ichiri. Like most other viewers who liked Bocchi—"This is practically another me!"

The excellent animation, the cute and realistic girls, and the somewhat chaotic antics.

She joined the ranks of avid viewers. Today, it was already episode five.

"Din-ner--!" Her mom's shout came from the kitchen. Eating dinner a little later was fine; she wanted to finish watching first. "Be--right--there--!" she yelled back.

Ah, Bocchi-chan looking so sweaty is so cute, and Nijika looking sulky is also so cute...

Kessoku Band auditioned at Starry, and they began playing their first original song.

Guitar and Loneliness and the Blue Planet.

"I don't care how the sky is feeling"

"Din-ner--!" Her mom was relentless.

"Who am I going to show 'my true self' to?"

Huh...

"I'll grab the air and punch the sky"

What's going on...

"Nothing happens, I'm so powerless"

Heavy footsteps echoed from a distance. The laptop screen was shut off with a "snap!"

"I told you to eat! Did you hear me?!" As always, her mom was furious, yelling angrily about something unknown.

Shiko continued to stare blankly at the direction of the computer screen, at the blank wall.

When she came to her senses, Shiko had already bought a Kessoku Band t-shirt.

When she came to her senses again, Shiko was excitedly waving a glow stick, cheering for the different girls in front of the screen. She threw herself into various band and idol anime with a passion she'd never shown before. Her room was unconsciously filled with colorful merchandise.

One day, while Shiko was playing music in her room, her mom passed by. "This is awful, it sounds like chanting," she said, frowning.

Shiko didn't care. If anything, she was long accustomed to such comments.

As long as the girls' songs were perfect in her heart, that was enough.

That's right.

"Kessoku Band... is already perfect..." Shiko waved her hand, and the messy, disordered metal pieces on the ground were kicked by her with all her might, yet she felt no pain. "Originally... it was perfect... why...!"

"Why!" she roared into the empty wilderness. Not even an echo could be heard.

Shiko squatted down, curling into a ball.

When was the last time she was like this? Ten years ago? Not that long, but at least eight or nine years, right?

Why, in her previous life, she wasn't like this, but here, with the ones she loved the most, she was... !

After a long while, she heard a voice.

"Shiko." She looked up. A blurry pink shadow flickered before her eyes. Soon, the shadow overlapped, forming a person.

"Ichiri..." She saw Ichiri standing in front of her, timidly.

Ichiri wanted to ask Shiko what was wrong, why she suddenly acted like this, if the lyrics she wrote had upset her...

But she couldn't ask anything. Shiko stood up, saying nothing.

Shiko just walked past her. "Let's go back," she said, devoid of emotion.

On the way back, neither of them spoke. Shiko kept her eyes on the gravel path beneath her feet, preventing herself from falling.

Shiko pushed open the door to CiRCLE. Ichiri hurried to catch up, and Shiko stopped to hold the door open for her. At this distance, Ichiri noticed Shiko's reddened eyes.

"Did... did my lyrics upset you?" Ichiri finally asked cautiously.

"..." Shiko ignored her, but her footsteps stopped.

The air was filled with a heavy atmosphere.

"No." Shiko finally replied, then continued walking inside.

Ichiri grabbed her sleeve.

"Why are you running away, Shiko? You've suddenly become so strange... If it's because of me..."

"If it's because of you, would you change the lyrics to how I want them?"

Shiko rudely interrupted Ichiri. She finally turned around, facing Ichiri directly.

Faced with this question, Ichiri hesitated.

Shiko walked to the window, her back to Ichiri.

She made a decision.

"Ichiri, do you know about the box theory?" she asked. Ichiri was a little surprised by this strange question.

"Suppose we have a computer with infinite processing power, we could create a world inside it similar to ours but different. That world would have humans like us, who would live like us and take the existence of this world for granted. In their lives, stories would be generated, recorded by people outside the computer, and turned into anime, novels, and movies."

She turned to Ichiri: "I am from outside the computer."

Ichiri didn't understand the sci-fi content Shiko suddenly started talking about.

"Box? Computer? What..." Ichiri slowly understood, and only then did she grasp Shiko's meaning.

"You mean, you're saying you're a transmigrator?"

Shiko looked into Ichiri's eyes: "Yes. Kessoku Band is a band within the world of Bocchi the Rock!, and CiRCLE is a livehouse within the world of the Bang Dream project. Do you believe me?"

Ichiri nodded trustingly: "Shiko wouldn't lie to me." She didn't hesitate at all.

Shiko turned her head away, so Ichiri wouldn't see her self-loathing expression. The more Ichiri trusted her, the more she regretted it.

"Originally, Kessoku Band's second song was called That Band. The one you wrote didn't exist. At the band's first live show, everyone was nervous and didn't perform well. You saved the day by playing a brilliant solo with the intro of That Band, making the live show a great success." Recalling the eighth episode of Bocchi the Rock!, Shiko's lips curved upwards unconsciously.

"I don't like change; change means the old disappears. Stage Girls always have new stages, but what about the old ones? Where did the old ones go?" Her tone grew more intense, as if questioning fate.

She didn't care if Ichiri could understand and poured out her feelings: "This world shouldn't exist in the first place; you would all be living your real lives. Because of my arrival, this world appeared in the computer, and you all got dragged into it by me. A lot of time must have passed in reality, and you might have already missed the timing for your first live show. If you delay any longer, maybe the cultural festival live show that was supposed to happen will also be gone."

"Guitar and Loneliness and the Blue Planet is already a little different from my memory. I could tolerate that, but now, now, That Band no longer exists..."

Shiko wiped her face forcefully with her sleeve.

"I don't know this band..."

Chapter Twenty-Eight: New Stage, New Tears and Song

After saying her last words, she no longer cared about Ichiri and ran straight back to the backstage, locking the door. No matter how much the others knocked, she didn't respond.

The next day, Shiko emerged. She didn't explain anything to anyone, just apologized, and then rejoined their daily routine as if nothing had happened. Hunting, doing chores, sometimes helping with cooking – it seemed like nothing had occurred.

But everyone noticed that Shiko had become noticeably quieter lately. Shiko still worked hard when hunting, and Marina still saw her going out at night. However, for the rest of her time, she confined herself to the backstage, repeatedly watching live recordings. Of course, she used to enjoy watching them, but now she spent almost all her personal time backstage, rarely doing things with others.

"Wu-san has no expression at all lately..." Kita lamented.

"Me neither."

"That's different from you, Ryo-senpai," Kita said. "And she's appearing in front of us less often." She chose her words carefully. "Even when we are together, I feel like her attitude towards us is different than before—not cold! But... it's just different. I can't quite explain it."

"Little Shiko must be bottling something up!" Nijika turned to Ichiri. "Little Bocchi, do you have any information?"

Ichiri weighed her options for a long time. Under everyone's gaze, she finally looked up.

"I, I do know a little..."

This day was also drawing to a close. After dinner, Shiko washed dishes with Marina.

"Shiko-chan," Arata called from the doorway. She gave Marina a knowing look, and Marina immediately understood. She wiped her hands and nudged Shiko's shoulder from behind.

"Miss Marina?" Shiko was a little surprised.

Marina and Arata didn't say anything, mysteriously leading her to the dormitory.

No, this was now a stage.

Shiko saw the four members of the band already standing on the stage. Seeing the three of them enter, Nijika raised her hand and introduced herself with great energy: "Nice to meet you, we are Kessoku Band!"

"Please listen to, Guitar and Loneliness and the Blue Planet!"

The familiar intro Shiko knew began to play.

A live show?

Shiko was a little slow to react. She looked back; the two behind her were already engrossed in watching. She had no choice but to turn back. The people on stage were performing earnestly, as if there were a full audience in front of them. As she listened, she straightened her back, her eyes widening: this wasn't the version they played during the audition; this was—

This was the version she remembered from her past life!

She looked at Ryo in shock. Ryo noticed her gaze and winked at her playfully.

Shiko listened intently. Memories of Kessoku Band flooded her mind, both from her past life and her current one. Without realizing it, tears streamed down her face.

This time, everyone performed even better than before.

When the song ended, Shiko wanted to applaud, but Ichiri stomped her foot, interrupting her.

Furious guitar sounds rang out, shaking Shiko's soul. This was the solo from Kessoku Band's first live performance, just as Shiko had seen in her past life!

Shiko was frozen in place by the guitar. Her mind was filled only with her voice. Hitori Goto's guitar solo, belonging to Kessoku Band.

Kita took the microphone and offered it to Shiko.

"Will That Band do it?"

Shiko understood her meaning. Wiping away a tear, she stepped onto the stage, took the microphone, and faced the two audience members below.

Aside from the award stage in her past life, this was her first time standing on a stage.

However, at this moment, she felt no fear.

The intro was about to end. Relying on muscle memory, Shiko began to sing.

"The song of that band sounds like"

"A shrill, echoing laughter to me"

"Other than the sounds I emit"

It was over. The guitar brought the entire song to a close.

Applause erupted from the audience seats at the right moment.

"Hah... Hah..." Shiko put down the microphone.