Why Not Form a Band for Life

"Dong—" Ako made a drumming motion beside me, "Bang—!"

"In Roselia... the earliest to take night watch... is me... Before that... I can keep practicing..." Rinko said.

Rinko's turn to take watch was after Nijika's. It seemed they would indeed practice until Rinko started her night shift.

Shiko looked towards the distant direction where candlelight flickered, "This is the charm of Roselia."

"That's what you say, but some people never participate in band practice," Shiko turned her head, and Nijika, shaking her triangular ahoge, pouted and looked at her with mock anger.

Shiko felt a little ashamed, "...Sorry."

Nijika didn't dwell on the topic. She just patted Shiko's shoulder, "Well, but we'll have to rely on you for the stage preparations this time. We still have things to do for the upcoming joint live. Let's work hard together, little Shiko, and little Shiko." She walked past Shiko and headed towards Roselia.

It was time to switch shifts.

Chapter 13: "Ensemble" Rui "Clothing"

As long as it didn't rain, the sunlight here was still scorching. A sunshade was set up on the wooden raft, and the river breeze, carrying cool moisture, successfully revived everyone.

"Thank you—" Everyone thanked the biggest contributor, Shiko.

"Before you thank me," Shiko lifted the hem of her soaked clothes, "let's talk about what happened."

Shiko saw that everyone's clothes were more or less heavily water-stained, but it didn't look like sweat. Shiko let go, and the soaked fabric immediately clung to her skin, which was quite cool.

"Before you woke up, we were spraying water to cool down," Yukina sat upright at the head of the raft, her expression serious.

She was the wettest. One could imagine what kind of water fight the others had.

"Hurry up and change your clothes, it's not good to catch a cold," Shiko put down the light green water gun, the same model as Yae Miki's, and opened the box containing the clothes.

Inside, there were neatly arranged plain T-shirts in black, white, and gray, along with denim shorts.

"Hah—" Kita looked at the inside of the box, her expression disgusted, "What a wardrobe with no dreams."

Nowadays, their daily clothes were directly conjured by Shiko. Due to her otaku identity, her designs were unlikely to have any novelty.

Shiko rubbed her chin, her hands flicked, and another white T-shirt appeared. With another flick, a landscape of the riverbank was printed on the shirt. A perfect replica. She showed her freshly made design to Kita, "How is it?"

Kita looked at her with a death glare, "Are you serious?"

Is it ugly? Shiko looked again in confusion. It was colorful and looked quite refreshing. It was indeed much better than the previous monochrome.

When she looked up, she found everyone looking at her with awkward expressions.

Especially Rinko, who seemed to have a thousand words but couldn't say a single one. Nijika too, Ichiri too... Ichiri, you should probably forget it.

While marveling at Ichiri's fashion sense, she also awkwardly averted her gaze from the fabric clinging to her skin.

Shiko threw the clothes in her hand. The clothes turned into colorful butterfly-shaped confetti in mid-air and flew into the sky.

"This move is quite beautiful..." Kita's eyes sparkled as she followed the flying butterflies into the sky.

"Oh, right," Nijika suddenly remembered something, "Since we're having a joint live, we need to design a performance outfit first!"

The members of Kessoku Band finally remembered that after the band had been formed for so long, they still didn't have any actual performance outfits. Before, they had always gone on stage wearing Shiko's standard monochrome clothes. Compared to the gorgeous, elegant, or unique performance outfits in their CDs, Kessoku Band was simply too rudimentary.

"Then..." Shiko raised her hand. Nijika immediately reached out and interrupted her, "No participation from little Shiko in the design this time."

Shiko had no choice but to lean close to Nijika's ear and say, "Actually, I remember what your performance outfits looked like in another timeline."

Nijika's eyes lit up, "Really?"

So Shiko took out a pure black T-shirt with the white Kessoku Band logo on it.

"Pass."

"This was designed by another version of yourself, you know."

Nijika put her hand to her forehead, "But we wear this style of clothes every day now... Sorry, but the thought of wearing this on stage makes me a little..."

Shiko's eyes held a hint of pleading, "I'll try harder to design casual wear in the future, but please, can we use this one for the performance outfits?"

"I'm sorry..." Nijika tried her best not to show her expression.

"Please, what can I do to make you accept this one? I'll do anything I can..." Shiko put on a broken expression and grabbed Nijika's hand.

"Is there... is there any need to be this serious...!" Nijika said with a wry smile, avoiding Shiko's constantly approaching face. It wasn't until Ryo helped her out—she patted Shiko's shoulder with a look of disdain.

"You, you only think about yourself," she casually picked up on Shiko's joke, "Let me, the great god of the second-hand clothing store, teach you what true fashion is—" Ryo grabbed a piece of white paper and quickly drew on it.

Several heads peeked over. Just then, Ryo finished the last stroke. She wiped her forehead grandly, "Effortlessly."

The white paper already had the performance outfits for the five of them drawn on it. Unlike Shiko's design where all five were uniform, Ryo's design for each of them was different, yet there was a strange sense of unity. It looked more like high fashion on a runway than stage costumes, while also embodying the personality of each of the five members, combining fashion and individuality, making it impossible to fault.

Meanwhile, Roselia was also troubled by their performance outfits.

"Should we... design a new... outfit for this performance?" Rinko had long been unable to stand the casual clothes made by Shiko. As the person in charge of Roselia's costume production, her hands were itching, and she urgently needed to create an outfit that fit Roselia's aesthetic—at least, normal aesthetics.

"Okay—" Ako raised her fist high. She had long wanted to wear the cool outfits designed by Rinrin again! Classmate Shiko was cool in everything except her fashion sense, which was hard to compliment!

"Weren't the previous performance outfits still in the box?" Yukina said.

They hadn't worn that set of clothes much after the transmigration. Although the conditions were limited, they were still well-preserved and only needed a little tidying up to be usable.

"But... compared to before... Roselia... has changed... so..." Rinko insisted, "We should have different performance outfits..."

Yukina's expression changed slightly.

"Change... huh..." Yukina fell into a memory. "I remember you made new outfits for our reborn selves back then too," she said, referring to the time Roselia experienced a rebirth after their failure at SWEET MUSIC SHOWER.

Rinko recalled the event and smiled, "Yes… Although compared to that time… our changes weren't that big… but… we can still try some new things…"

"Okay. Then let's make new outfits," Yukina agreed.

"For the necessary materials… we'll need Wu-san…" Rinko stood up, saw how busy Shiko was, and awkwardly sat back down. Only when Shiko was dejectedly squatting to the side after things had quieted down did Rinko cautiously approach her and present the material list.

"Huh? What feathers? What lace? What… shade of purple is this? Lace? What kind of pattern?" Unfortunately, Shiko's knowledge of fashion was practically nonexistent.

In the end, Rinko could only make minor modifications to the original outfits.

"I don't think it's… but…" Nijika squatted next to Shiko, tapping her cheek. "Little Shiko wouldn't intentionally pretend she couldn't get the raw materials, forcing Rinko-senpai to just use the old outfits, would she?"

"Even though that sounds like something I'd do, I wouldn't," Shiko said. "I'm just attached to Kessoku Band's outfits because in the original work, Kessoku Band always wears this one set. In Bang Dream, each band's outfits naturally change to some extent depending on the occasion. I can accept that."

"The other you accepted Kessoku Band's new outfits quite readily," Nijika commented.

Shiko turned her head away. "She's always like that… Anyway, when we go on stage, it's her, not me."

"You're quite bold…"

At sunset, Yukina was helping Rinko with the outfits.

"Thank you… Yukina-san…"

"It's nothing," Yukina picked up the scissors. "I just want to try my best to make some changes."

Chapter 14: BLACK SHOUT

Kessoku Band sat in the cramped tent. Suddenly, a beam of light shone in.

"Ah, Little Shiko is here," Nijika looked up. Shiko had just lifted the curtain and walked in.

She had just finished getting advice from Roselia. Due to her abilities and schedule, she had been assigned the role of stage creation for this joint live. To achieve a better stage effect, she sought advice from Roselia, who had performed many lives. Her notebook was already filled with entries—much more diligent than her notes from attending Shuka, as if she had adopted the attitude of her past life's studies. Although she couldn't create a stage identical to the real world here, Shiko was determined to give her all.

"Alright—since everyone's here, I declare the joint live program planning meeting to begin—" Nijika raised her fist high.

"Ooh—" came four responses with different tones.

"Each of our teams has three songs this time," Nijika tapped her notebook with a pencil.

"How many songs do we have now?" Shiko counted on her fingers. "Guitar and Loneliness and the Blue Planet, Before Waking Up or That Band, Light of Aether, Yesterday Once More, The First Day of Setting Sail… 6 songs, no, let's say 5."

"Let's skip Light of Aether, shall we?" Nijika felt they probably wouldn't play it again until they got their revenge. "And Yesterday Once More too."

"Why?" Shiko was confused but didn't press further. "Then that leaves exactly three songs, we just need to arrange the order."

"As for the order, it'll be BLACK SHOUT, Rain of Conviction, DESIRE. No problems, right?" In another tent, Roselia had also decided on their setlist.

"BLACK SHOUT is the song we didn't get to perform at the last live. The remaining two are new songs written recently. I don't think there are any issues," Sayo said.

They didn't board the ship that day. The entire day was spent on venue confirmation, stage construction, and safety assurance.

The moment night fell, the performance began.

The joint live had only ten participants, who were both audience and performers.

"Whoa, we're kicking things off…" Shiko shivered and hugged herself, not because it was cold at night.

"Since there are only two teams, it's either the opening or the finale," Nijika waved to the others. "Come on, let's form a circle!"

Five hands stacked on top of each other.

"Become stars!" they shouted their pre-determined slogan.

In front of the stage, Roselia had already found the best viewing spot.

"Normally, we'd be in the preparation room at this time," Lisa said. "It's so strange~"

"We're here to learn from each other," Yukina observed the stage. "Come to think of it, this stage is quite similar to the underground stage at CiRCLE."

"Mhm… Wu-san… went to a lot of trouble…" Rinko's voice was faint.

When the lights turned on, the members of Kessoku Band were already standing by their instruments. They hadn't brought high-power spotlights from CiRCLE. Now, each lamp on the stage contained a golden jade slip—these were talismans that Shiko had copied from Nijika's full-power starlight release, which she called "Five Directions Pure Land Perfect Immeasurable Meritorious Treasure Light." Even back in CiRCLE, Shiko could compress starlight for instantaneous release. Now, she had diluted the power within each talisman repeatedly to extend its illumination time. With such effort, maintaining their operation for at least half an hour was possible. Brightness adjustment and lamp direction rotation were handled by small built-in mechanisms. The control devices for these mechanisms were only exposed as a few buttons on stage, with most hidden within the massive automated control system behind the stage. With a press of a button, the lighting could be automatically controlled throughout a song.

"Although… it's only the lighting…" At that time, Shiko patted the large iron boxes behind the stage, her eyes filled with the thought, "I never want to touch machinery again."

The result of Shiko's all-nighter, squeezing every last brain cell, was—

"Suddenly falling evening shower, ah, I don't even have an umbrella."

The lights turned on as if on cue, with seamless changes in brightness and direction, swaying in time with the rhythm. Although the effect was only slightly better than a school cultural festival, having lights was better than nothing.

"First song, Guitar and Loneliness and the Blue Planet!"

Shiko on stage was also playing enthusiastically. "(Very good, Little Shiko.)" Nijika noticed that Shiko's performance surpassed any rehearsal they had ever done. Guitar and Loneliness and the Blue Planet originally had no guitar part, and she had personally rearranged the score. Nijika's own performance was also better than usual.

This is good! Nijika maintained this feeling, even though there were only five people in the audience, she would conquer them with her music!

"Next, is our final song!"

This song was written after they met Roselia, The First Day of Setting Sail. Although Ryo composed this song, the keyboard also had a very strong presence.

The keyboard sound rang out first, followed by the other instruments joining in one by one.

Although it was their first performance, everyone played exceptionally well. Nijika saw that the members of Roselia in the audience couldn't help but smile, and Ako swayed gently to the rhythm.

However, the keyboard sound abruptly stopped. Nijika looked at Shiko, only to find her looking equally bewildered.

"Is it a personality switch at a time like this?" Nijika immediately thought of the reason. This is bad, this is bad, Ako hasn't practiced this song at all...

The keyboard sound started again. Ako seamlessly joined the melody without any hesitation, as if she had practiced it thousands of times. There wasn't a single mistake. Facing the questioning looks from the others, she just replied with her eyes: Keep going.

The song was completed without any major issues. Ako let out a breath and quickly left after the curtain call. Several people chased after her.

"Little Ako—" From below the stage, everyone surrounded Ako. "If you'd practiced this song, you should have told us! You scared us to death."

Ako stopped, bowed, and turned back. "Uh... No matter what, I'm a member of Kessoku Band. It's normal for me to play my own band's songs, right?"

"We really relied on you this time," Nijika said with a smile, hands on her hips. "But, you should still come to group practice obediently from now on."

Just then, Roselia walked over. Kita immediately went to greet them. "Senior Minato~ How was our live?"

Yukina stopped. Her expression was even colder than usual. "Your performance was good," she said flatly and walked straight towards the stage. The remaining four followed her in silence, leaving Kessoku Band full of confusion.

Before they could even process what was happening, Roselia was already on stage.

Once on stage, Roselia's aura became even more powerful than usual. Dressed in elegant and noble performance outfits, the five stood in their positions, like the pitch-black darkness that had existed since time immemorial, or like a blue rose blooming wildly in a church—they, who were usually dignified, timid, gentle, or chuunibyou, were now unified with an unshakeable presence.

They unleashed their—

BLACK SHOUT.

The five stared blankly at their performance. Only by seeing it with their own eyes could they understand the vast difference between them.

"So dazzling..." Ako had switched again at some point, completely entranced. "There are so many fans cheering here too..." In her eyes, the audience must have been a sea of people.

"Did we receive this kind of support before?" Kita asked.

At that time, Ako, standing behind the keyboard, had seen the sea of light—