What a beautiful view. I wish I could keep looking at it forever--
"Yeah! We do!"
Everyone smiled one after another. "That's good."
The music gradually faded away. Everyone gathered in the tent.
"Cheers--" Since this was a joint live, a celebration banquet was naturally indispensable.
"This should be a reflection meeting." Some people had a different opinion about what to call the meal.
Lisa brought over a fresh plate of cookies. "Come on, Yukina. Holding a celebration banquet once in a while isn't so bad."
"Exactly, Yukina. Even though it's been a long time since our last live, I feel like we performed even better than before this time," Shiko said. "Especially Sayo."
Sayo merely nodded. "Thank you very much." Her ability mainly raised [Reaction], which was a great help in improving her guitar technique.
"Before?" Ako asked. "Shiko-san, had you seen Roselia's lives before?"
"Yeah, I watched one with Ichiri. But you definitely don't remember it."
"Ah... actually... now that you mention it... I think I remember a little." Rinko suddenly spoke up. "Once... I noticed that the two audience members in the front row... had an air somewhat similar to my former self... so I paid a little more attention... Thinking back now... it must have been you two..."
"Eh?" Shiko always felt as if some shameful bit of her past had been exposed. She looked toward Ichiri, but the other girl instead wore a look of utterly transparent delight.
"I didn't expect to be remembered so early by someone who seemed to recognize me as one of her kind... That's what she means, right?" she silently read. Ichiri's expression was simply too easy to understand.
"But did I really perform better than before today?" Yukina asked.
"Yeah. Is there a problem?" Shiko found it a little strange. This wasn't something Yukina would normally ask.
"Nothing." Yukina was as composed as ever.
Although they had enjoyed a wonderful live, they still needed someone to stand watch at night. Nijika and Shiko were sitting on the stage in complete darkness.
"Here. I saved this for you from the celebration banquet." Nijika handed Shiko a boxed meal.
"Thanks." Shiko opened it. By the light of the stars, she saw rice balls, cake, cookies, and more.
"I haven't properly thanked you yet." Nijika looked at her, the stars reflected in her eyes. "Shiko, thank you for this."
"Did I do anything worth thanking me for?" She speared a piece of cake and stuffed it into her mouth.
It melted as soon as it entered her mouth. It was delicious.
"Of course you did." Nijika lay down and admired the dazzling starry sky. "The stage, and the matter of the final song."
"To be honest, I was a little surprised to see you actually play that song."
"Because you don't like us having songs that differ from the ones in the 'original work,' right?"
"Yeah." Shiko set down the meal box and lay down like Nijika. "No matter what, I'm still a member of Kessoku Band. Even if I don't like it, I still have to know how to play it, right?"
Shiko sensed something unusual and turned her head. Nijika was looking at her, her eyes sparkling.
"Actually, until today, it never really felt real to me," Nijika said. "The fact that 'Little Shiko really joined our band.'"
"That's hurtful."
"Who told you to keep skipping practice?" Nijika's voice held a smile. "Compared to you, the other Little Shiko seems more like a band member."
"Today I realized that both Little Shikos have joined Kessoku Band."
Nijika reached out and cupped Shiko's face. "From now on, as a member of the band, come participate in practice, okay?"
Shiko placed her hand over Nijika's.
Ah...
How was she supposed to refuse that?
Summer End Plan
On a vacant patch of land halfway up the mountain, a new tent had been put up.
"Haah--" After finishing her usual chores, Nijika stretched and glanced at the sun. It was about time.
So Nijika smiled and held out her hand to Shiko. "Come on, let's go practice."
Shiko was slightly startled, but in the end she took that hand.
It was Shiko's first time entering the practice area in this persona. The other three were already waiting there. Seeing this scene, Shiko felt a little dazed. When was the last time she had seen this sight outside a stage? It was clearly right beside her every day, yet it seemed like she hadn't seen Kessoku Band as a band in a long time.
Perhaps accepting Nijika's invitation really had been a good thing.
At that moment, an unexpected change suddenly occurred! The moment Ichiri saw the two of them enter, she suddenly bounced in front of everyone and began prostrating herself repeatedly!
"I'm truly sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!..."
There was no time for sentiment. Shiko immediately tied Ichiri up with a length of hemp rope.
"It's Wu-san--" Kita was first shocked by this, then shocked by that. "No, Gotou-san, what are you doing?!"
Even with her hands and feet tied behind her, Ichiri continued apologizing through her tears and runny nose. "I'm sorry. I performed so terribly yesterday... It was my first performance for Roselia, yet I played so badly. I'm a sinner..."
"I can only bite my tongue and kill myself!" Ichiri shouted. She opened her mouth and was about to bite down, but Shiko hurriedly stuffed a rag into it. Now all she could do was roll pitifully across the ground while making muffled "mmph, mmph" sounds.
The four of them watched Ichiri writhe on the ground like a tiger keelback.
"Feels like... it's been a long time since we've seen Ichiri's bizarre behavior, too," Shiko said wistfully.
"It feels a little nostalgic." Ryo nodded.
Thinking back carefully, Ichiri really hadn't performed very well yesterday. She had nearly been on the same level as Kita performing at full strength. Of course, that wasn't because Kita hadn't worked hard. The difference in practice time and talent simply existed. Shiko naturally didn't voice her thoughts. She merely watched Ryo push Ichiri around on the ground, then grabbed her when she rolled close and removed the rag from her mouth.
"I saw Sayo-san looking confused..." Ichiri recalled dejectedly. Upon hearing that the Guitar Hero's skills were actually this bad, she must have been terribly disappointed...
Nijika helplessly crouched down and brought her face level with Ichiri's. "It's okay. We'll have plenty of chances in the future. It's not like everything depends on this one time..."
"But it was my first live..." Ichiri clearly couldn't calm down from a single sentence.
"Hmm..." Shiko seemed to think of something. "I understand."
"What do you understand?"
Shiko stood up and pushed nonexistent glasses up the bridge of her nose. "As far as I know, Ichiri's stage performance follows the rules below:"
"pop=int(input("Number of audience members:"))"
"au=input("Type of audience:")"
"if au=="familiar":"
"pop*=1"
"else:"
"pop*=10"
"stage=0"
"power=100"
"st=input("Performance environment:")"
"if st=="at home":"
"stage=1"
"elif st=="indoors":"
"stage=1/10"
"else:"
"stage=1/100"
"per=power*stage/pop"
"print(per)""
"Oh!" Nijika slapped her palm. "In other words, under standard conditions, Little Bocchi's performance level is directly proportional to the size of the stage and how familiar she is with the audience, and inversely proportional to the scale of the venue!"
"What did you understand?!" Kita was stunned.
Shiko nodded in satisfaction. "0101 1001 0110 0101 0111 0011 0010 1110"
"Binary!" Kita's jaw nearly dislocated. "No, did Wu-san switch personalities again? No matter what, there's absolutely no conversation that Ikuyo Kita can't participate in!"
Kita picked up her guitar! Under everyone's watchful eyes, she held a pick and began to play!
"Clang--dang, dang-clang--,..."
It was Morse code! She was even spelling out romaji! Shiko understood completely!
"I don't understand." Ryo raised her hand.
"Who asked you?" Three cold gazes turned toward her. Ryo and Ichiri trembled. Before them stood three terrifying beings who had never scored zero on a test! When the generation gap in knowledge reached such a despairing degree, even communication became impossible!
"Let the number of audience members be x... Establish a coordinate system... It follows that..." Shiko and Nijika drew diagrams on the spot and began making theoretical plans for Ichiri's reform project, burning with enthusiasm.
"Clang--dang-clang--dang-clang--clang--" The meaningless guitar sounds continued alongside them.
"Um..." Ichiri timidly tried to say something.
"It's useless." Ryo patted her shoulder heavily. "There's no gap left for us to wedge into between those three."
The two gloomy girls found a strange place to reach an understanding.
"Q.E.D.!" Yukina suddenly saw Shiko rush out of the tent, shouting, "ε?ρηκα! ε?ρηκα!" (I know!)
What was she doing? Yukina ignored her and continued, "There are some things we didn't make clear last night. Today, we'll hold another reflection meeting."
Inside the tent, Nijika also ignored Shiko, who had suddenly rushed out like Archimedes, and untied Ichiri.
"Anyway, to let Little Bocchi perform at her full strength, we've decided to carry out a plan!"
"A plan?" Ichiri had a bad feeling.
"That's right!" Shiko poked her head into the tent. "Summer Moni... End Plan!"
Her expression suddenly darkened. "What are you discussing? You're not planning to drag me into this, are you?"
Nijika and Kita immediately pressed close to her ears and whispered.
"I won't participate in this plan." Shiko's expression remained utterly calm.
"Eh--"
"Just kidding." Shiko walked in. "I only felt that someone ought to say that at a time like this."
"Then... can I say it like that..." Ichiri timidly raised her hand. Although she didn't know the details of the plan, the fact that Shiko had helped design it was enough to explain everything.
"No." Shiko folded her arms. "This plan... how should I put it... It's exactly what you'd expect from me!"
"...Have you really changed back?" Kita asked fearfully.
Footsteps sounded outside. Yukina lifted the curtain and saw that no one was practicing, so she spoke up. "There's something I'd like to discuss."
Nijika turned her head. "Perfect timing. We have something to discuss, too... You go first."
Yukina said, "This live benefited all of us immensely. If it's convenient, could we do it again after some time?"
Ichiri, All by Herself
The next day, beside the hastily constructed temporary pier.
At some point, the large fleet of joint canoes that had been moored there had been evenly divided into two groups, then redesigned and rearranged.
"This is to reduce risk, improve our ability to respond, and increase flexibility," Nijika explained. Ichiri had two roles while the fleet moved: first, manipulating the water to propel the fleet; second, detecting and freezing the monsters beneath the surface. Although Ichiri could only guarantee propulsion for one fleet at a time with her water manipulation range, her detection and attack range against underwater monsters extended much farther. Therefore, as long as the other group didn't move too far away from Ichiri, it could still travel by itself using wooden oars and other devices while maintaining safety. The arrangement was extremely reasonable. Even Sayo, who pursued perfection, had no objections.
Although it was a little more tiring for everyone, Ichiri's pressure was reduced accordingly. Realizing this, Ichiri felt that she ought to say thank you, but she didn't know exactly whom she should thank. However, she would soon stop thinking that way.
"Bang!" Several large, packed crates had already been placed on one of the wooden rafts. The weight of the luggage made the raft sink slightly.
"Ah, looks like we put a little too much on this side." Nijika began reading the line in a completely emotionless tone.
"Looks like only four people can sit on this side." Ryo echoed in the same tone.
Shiko--now the one with hysteria--leaped onto the raft first. She, too, read her line without emotion. "Oh, first--"
Before you continue