Why Play in a Band If Not Forever

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"Still..." Kita swallowed the rest of her words.

"In my heart, Gotou-san is like a star. Ever since the day you pulled me into the band, Gotou-san has guided me and given me the motivation to keep going."

"I can only move forward when I'm with you."

"But, after I did something like this, Gotou-san probably won't want to be with me anymore..." Kita gave a smile mixed with regret, pain, and attachment.

Ichiri's hands rested on Kita's shoulders.

"I will," Ichiri's voice was without hesitation. Kita's pupils trembled.

"Kita-san is my important friend, my partner. I would never abandon a partner. Although I don't understand your feelings, Kita-san, if you want to do something, as long as it's not excessive, it's fine!"

Kita's lips quivered, "Will you... still teach me guitar?"

"Yes!" Ichiri responded immediately.

"Even if my skills are already good enough, can you keep teaching me guitar?"

"Yes!"

"Then, even if it's not for guitar practice, can we spend time alone occasionally?" Kita tremblingly made her most greedy request.

"..." Ichiri didn't reply.

"Gotou-san?" Kita felt a pang of fear.

"Why would you ask for something like that... in advance?" Ichiri's voice trembled, yet it was incredibly gentle.

Tears finally welled up in Kita's eyes, and she threw herself into Ichiri's arms. "Gotou-san... Gotou-san..."

"Gotou-san, I... I'll become your star someday..."

Ichiri gently stroked Kita's back. "I believe you."

"Until then... please continue to be my star... okay?"

"Okay," Ichiri promised by Kita's ear.

"Someday... I want to call you 'Little Ichiri'..."

"I'll be waiting."

Outside, Shiko paced anxiously.

"What's happening in there... I can't peek, I can't peek... But this is Bocchi x Kita... I can't peek..."

"Control yourself... control yourself..." Nijika waved her hand in front of Shiko.

Shiko suddenly jumped up. "I have inspiration!"

"Inspiration?"

"That's right! A new song!" On stage, Kita announced the last song. "Please listen to If We Could Become Constellations!"

"The clock is almost at 6 o'clock."

"Was Kita always looking at Ichiri?" Lisa noticed from below the stage.

"And the emotions in this song are especially rich," Yukina observed something different.

"Is this also rock?" Ako inexplicably found the vocalist who didn't look at the audience quite cool.

"Hmm..." Lisa listened to the lyrics and seemed to sense something, but decided it was better not to say anything.

"Gotou-san--!" After the performance, Kita excitedly pounced on Ichiri.

"Waaahhh..." Even though she was the one who said "anything is fine," Ichiri still found it hard to adapt to Kita's overly enthusiastic greetings. And wasn't there too much physical contact?

Ryo looked back at the two of them clinging to each other on stage and couldn't help but comment, "Are there too many members with yandere tendencies in our band?"

Beside her, Shiko agreed, "Originally, only Ichiri was supposed to be a little bit clingy."

"Um, do you realize that you're also included in the clingy ones I'm talking about?"

"Eh?"

Shiko decided to end the topic. She quickly carried her keyboard off stage and put it back in the tent. It wasn't the same keyboard she and Rinko usually used. After putting the keyboard away, she rushed outside. Roselia's performance was about to start. This time, the program included songs they had written before their time travel, so she wouldn't miss it. In the darkness, she bumped into something. Something fell, and a few papers scattered on the ground.

"Sorry..." Although no one was there, she instinctively apologized. She picked up a piece of paper and, by the starlight, saw the words on it. It was Yukina's schedule. Out of curiosity, she looked closely. But gradually, her face began to twitch.

"Why are there so many lives?"

On the schedule, there was a live performance almost every few days. Although they were all marked "pending discussion," wasn't Yukina being a little too outrageous?

Chapter 21: I Want to Do a Live!

"A new challenge draws closer to reality."

The live show ended. She had lost count of how many times. Since the first joint live, the two bands had held many more. Of course, for Shiko's brain cells' sake, the lighting effects were omitted.

"Woo-- Ako's drumming was suuuper cool this time!" Ako cheered, holding up her drumsticks.

Yukina also rarely praised her. "Yes. Ako, your performance was good this time."

"Minato-san's skills have also become more polished than last time," Sayo said.

"Of course!" Lisa nudged Yukina's waist. "Yukina spent twice as much time practicing, didn't she?"

"..."

Every time the boat docked, everyone would see Yukina disappear into a small tent to practice alone. Apart from necessary appearances like boat rides and band practice, she hardly showed herself to anyone else.

"While effort is good," Sayo reminded her, "we can't just focus on music anymore."

"I know that naturally," Yukina replied.

Meanwhile, Kessoku Band also began to debrief after this live. This time, Shiko was present. Although she had gradually started participating in band activities and her presence was occasionally seen during lives, this was the first live she had fully participated in.

"Speaking of which, haven't the recent lives been a bit too frequent?" Shiko complained. There was basically a live every few days; their band life consisted of either doing lives or preparing for them. Moreover, Yukina was the one who proposed every single live plan. It was exactly the same as the schedule she had accidentally seen last time.

"Live. Want to do." The day after their first live, she said this.

"Live." The day after their second live, she said this.

"Live." The day after their third live, she said this.

This had basically become a recurring segment. It got to the point where Shiko felt like feeding Yukina matcha parfaits whenever she saw her now.

The crucial point was that Shiko didn't remember Yukina being the type to get so caught up in lives! She could understand it if it were Kasumi next door. It was precisely because of Yukina's current abnormality that everyone tended to indulge her.

"The setlist for this time is the same as the last one," Kita said resentfully, looking at the record sheet detailing the past few lives.

With such a high frequency of lives, Roselia, who had a large reserve of original songs, was fine. But for a new band like Kessoku Band, it was truly difficult. During their first live, they played all the original songs they could. To add something new to the show, before the second live, Shiko recalled and brought out the original Kessoku Band song If We Could Become Constellations. Before the third live, Ryo, Ichiri, and Shiko also wrote the new songs New Rainbow After Rain and Crystal Butterfly and Sunlight.