Why Play in a Band If Not Forever

"So gross..." Nijika's face turned green.

"Wow, Kessoku Band," Shiko interjected unexpectedly.

The four looked: red blood, yellow pus, blue cloth, pink brain matter...

They understood.

Drumsticks began to tap a rhythm on Shiko's head.

"Shiko's over there too," Ryo suddenly pointed out a spot.

The four looked again more closely: mixed within that mass were patches of gray mold.

"Blech—" Kita was the first to vomit.

It would be disastrous to keep looking, so Shiko took the initiative. Several stone spires rose from the ground and pierced the flesh mountain with a splat. This was her ability, [Fantasy Boundary], which had been strengthened by CiRCLE, making this level of materialization effortless for Shiko.

Kita immediately followed. As the strongest destructive force in the team currently, she had conjured a sky full of fire rain and rained it down on the flesh mountain. However, all the flames were extinguished by acid. The acid spewed from the gaps in the flesh mountain, and as the gaps shifted on the monster, it resembled a turret. The acid was already pouring down on the five of them. At the critical moment, a low, heavy bass sound rang out, and a sound wall shattered the water column.

The group instinctively scattered to the sides, trying to separate. However, more gaps split open on the monster, targeting each of them. During this time, fire rain and water spouts mixed with ice blades constantly harassed them. The acid blocked all attacks, but their own attacks were blocked by sound walls and stone walls. For a time, neither side could gain the upper hand.

(First, I need to block its attacks!) Shiko constantly raised stone walls between the group and the flesh mountain but couldn't find an opportunity to counterattack. (It's like a slime, even if I can block a few spouts, it can grow new ones at any time...)

(Wait, what is Ichiri doing?)

Ichiri's guitar playing had, at some unknown point, shifted from intense to agile. The water columns were no longer directed solely at the flesh mountain's core. After blocking the acid, the collected acid actually increased the volume of the water columns. Now, after a period of accumulation, there was enough liquid! With a flick of the strings, a water wall gradually surrounded the flesh mountain, forming a water cage. The monster's only attack method was to spray acid, but now all the acid was being neutralized by the water wall!

Nice! Shiko shouted in her mind. It truly lived up to its name, [Guitar Hero!] The only question was, how long could she maintain it?

Ichiri struggled to strum the strings, sweat already beading on her forehead. But the next moment, she felt the pressure on her ease considerably: a silent sound wall pressed tightly against the water prison, becoming its support. Starlight also enveloped her simultaneously, and she felt her strength rapidly recovering.

Shiko knew the opportunity had arrived. But the other three couldn't spare the effort. Kita's flames couldn't penetrate the water prison, Shiko's abilities couldn't be used without seeing inside the water prison, and it was hard to kill a monster whose weaknesses were invisible just by smashing things... How to attack?

"Kita! Can you instantly melt iron into molten iron!" she shouted to Kita.

Receiving an affirmative answer, Shiko waved her hand, and thousands of iron bars appeared above the water prison. Kita understood, and the iron bars fell, plunging into flames as bright as the sun.

When the flames dissipated, a rain of molten iron poured down!

In an instant, an opening appeared at the top of the water prison, and the molten iron rain poured in. With a scalp-tingling sizzle and a sky full of steam, it was all over.

The water prison dispersed. Just like before, there was no monster corpse at the scene, only fine sand. As the group approached, a red orb gradually emerged from the fine sand, glowing quietly.

Ichiri let out a breath and removed the scorching gun barrel from her back, using it as a crutch. Nijika thoughtfully handed everyone a bottle of water. After a short rest, they continued on their way. Through teamwork, their coordination had improved significantly.

Powerful monsters were uncommon, and Nijika's help in restoring their stamina was invaluable. However, the scenery remained monotonous. Even Kita, who had been boisterous at first, lost interest. Shiko, on the other hand, took over the camera, falling to the back of the group, occasionally taking pictures of everyone—mainly Ichiri.

The sun was beginning to set. They had found a hidden spot earlier and eaten lunch, bento boxes prepared by Marina-san. After fighting all morning and with half the afternoon gone, it was time to head back. Nijika glanced at the sun and thought so.

"Alright, that's enough for today. If we go any further, we won't be able to get back," she announced.

With CiRCLE's enhancement, they could all roughly sense CiRCLE's location. The canvas bag was already quite heavy, filled with many orbs. Shiko voluntarily took over from Nijika and picked up the bag.

The atmosphere on the return journey was different from the departure. The mission was complete, and everyone felt like they were heading home from school.

"This outfit is still not very convenient..."

"Next time, I should change into something like Nijika's..."

"What about band practice?" Ryo asked.

"Huh? We still have to practice?" Kita thought they wouldn't have time for the band anymore.

"We'll discuss it tomorrow. It's the first day today, so let's rest—but we definitely need to practice. It would be hilarious if we couldn't even play our instruments when we get back to reality," Nijika said.

Actually, Kita wanted to say that even if they couldn't play instruments later, it would be fine; they could just learn from scratch—but seeing the look in Nijika's eyes, which suggested there was more to it, she wisely didn't object.

Before nightfall, they returned to the lights.

Chapter Seven: Band Activities

The clock struck eleven. Shiko reluctantly put the CD in her hand back into the storage, washed up, and headed to the dormitory.

She pushed open her room door.

"Eek—" a scream greeted her.

"Huh?" Shiko was startled by them.

"Sorry, we were telling ghost stories~" It was Nijika's voice.

After some people fell asleep beside her, Ichiri could still hear quiet whispers. The group's conversation grew softer and softer, and they became drowsier, until soon, Ichiri couldn't hear them anymore.

She fell asleep.

These past few days, as soon as the lights went out, Ichiri was always the first to fall asleep. In the past, Ichiri often stayed up late practicing guitar, but now the daytime activities were simply too exhausting. Although Nijika helped with the physical fatigue, mental exhaustion was unavoidable. On days when they planned band practice, they could usually only practice for an hour or two after dinner before resting.

But more importantly, Ichiri had been tense whenever she was awake. Although she had been happy spending time with everyone these past few days, they had only known each other for a short time. In the past, she had spent most of her time with her most familiar family, so it was fine, but now, suddenly in an unfamiliar environment, Ichiri felt pressure from time to time.

Shiko seemed to be handling it much better than herself, but Ichiri understood Shiko's approach and knew she couldn't emulate it.

Ichiri could only hope that time would slowly change her.

Would it change? At dinner, Ichiri popped a piece of fried chicken into her mouth. Marina-san tried very hard to make dishes that each of them liked, but ultimately, it wasn't the same as her mother's cooking.

"Based on my observations these past few days, your fuel collection speed has far exceeded CiRCLE's consumption rate, so you can reduce your working hours," Marina announced before dinner.

"Hooray—" The happiest one turned out to be Kita. Although she was the only one who preferred going out among the six of them, she had long been tired of looking at the same scenery every day, fighting disgusting monsters, and not being able to post on SNS! She wanted a holiday!

Ryo raised her hand, "Excuse me, about this few days' wages—"

"Still thinking about wages!" Nijika's hand chop landed with a thump on Ryo's head, interrupting her daydream. She then turned to the others, "So, we're going to increase band activity time a bit from now on. Anyone have any objections?"

Ichiri naturally had no problem. She also wanted to return to her daily routine of six hours of guitar practice as soon as possible.

Kita put on a pained face. She had already planned to sleep until noon. However, despite her discomfort, she didn't voice any objections. After all, she could tell from everyone else's attitude that there was no need for her to be difficult. In her long social life, she had grown accustomed to this approach.

"But before that!" Nijika suddenly got excited, even her triangular ahoge wiggling slightly. "Let's take some promotional photos!"

The next day, besides hunting, the group also had to find suitable backgrounds for their promotional photos. Shiko held a camera, borrowed from Marina.

The Gobi Desert scenery was initially novel, but after a few days, they were all tired of it. The visibility was high, but all they could see was grayish-brown, grayish-brown, grayish-brown, making their eyes dizzy.

"No, can't we just take them at CiRCLE?" Ichiri asked weakly. She just wanted to go home and didn't think they'd find any better spots.

"Promotional photos are the first step for many people to get to know Kessoku Band, so we can't be so casual about it," Nijika said enthusiastically. "Actually, there are several places that would be better to shoot at night... a backdrop of stars invisible in big cities would be absolutely perfect, but Marina-san said it's dangerous at night."

"Actually... I have an idea," Shiko, who had been silent, spoke up.

She stopped walking, raised her hands, and a stone wall and cement ground appeared before them. As she recalled further, the stone wall gradually became adorned with yellow-green graffiti. Soon, a vibrant painting full of modern artistic flair was completed.

"Huh? Could it be that Wu-san is an artist?" Kita excitedly grabbed Shiko's hand, her eyes sparkling.

"I kind of miss the days when I used to pour my sweat onto the streets with my delinquent friends..." Shiko looked up at the sky, finding it hard to maintain her composure. This was because the wall was merely something she had recreated based on the original promotional photo background from her memory.

However, this action led the others to mistakenly believe Shiko had a colorful past, and they couldn't help but praise her.

Until a trembling voice broke the atmosphere, "Shiko... probably didn't have friends before, right?"

Kita froze in shock.

Nijika began mentally equating Shiko with Ryo.

Ryo, on the other hand, felt closer to Shiko.

"...Let's just finish taking the photos and go home," Shiko said expressionlessly, raising her camera.

The photos came out of the printer one by one.

Everyone took two copies. One was a promotional photo of Kessoku Band, and the other was a group photo taken after they returned, with Marina and the six of them together. After looking at them for a while, they laughed and chatted as they entered the recording studio.

"They really turned out well," Marina said, standing close to the two who remained still. Ichiri and Shiko were both scrutinizing the photos, wearing identical silly smiles.

Ichiri examined the group photo of the six of them. For some reason, the tension she had been feeling began to dissipate. Even though they hadn't known each other for long, with this photo, it felt as if some invisible bond connected them.

Group photos... they're truly magical...

After Ichiri also entered the recording studio, Shiko muttered to herself, "Kessoku Band..."

Marina looked at Shiko's innocent smile and couldn't help but feel envious.

Youth is wonderful.

And so, while doing chores that afternoon, Marina assigned Shiko, who was beaming with joy, double the tasks.

"I feel like I'm no longer young..." Shiko said at dinner, looking twenty years older.

(Little Shiko seems to have been cleaning with Marina-san all along... it must be tough.) I noticed Shiko's expression.

With a thought, two beams of starlight enveloped Shiko and Marina-san.

"Thank you for your hard work, both of you."

"Thank you very much..."

"Hey, hey, we're almost done writing our first original song!" Little Kita suddenly changed the subject.

Ah, I was too focused on Little Shiko. As the leader, I should have been the one to announce something like this...

I quickly chimed in, "Yes, we plan to write an original song as soon as possible and pass CiRCLE's audition quickly."

Of course, at first, I thought about performing at Starry first, then gradually gaining fame at other live houses. However, since we're already here, CiRCLE is also a well-known live house, so starting here isn't bad at all.

Marina-san appeared relatively calm. "The boss isn't here, so I'll be in charge of the auditions. I won't go easy on you, as I've seen all your hard work. Kessoku Band is definitely not a band that needs to be let off easy, right?"

My heart warmed. "Thank you very much!" This time, we spoke in unison.

I saw the light in Little Shiko's eyes. She looked even more excited than I was. Do we already have such enthusiastic fans?

That evening, after band practice, I approached Little Shiko.

"Hey, Little Shiko, could you do me a favor?"

She seemed startled.

"Sorry, did I disturb you?"

"No, no, what is it?" Little Shiko regained her composure.

Recently, the joy of forming a band has been lingering in my heart. Fueled by this excitement, "I've designed some band merchandise just in case, though it might be a bit early... but someday someone will buy them!" I took out a design draft. "However, to turn this design into a real product, I'll need Little Shiko's help! Please!"

Little Shiko didn't refuse my request.

Soon, several cable ties appeared in her hands. Red, pink, blue, and yellow, corresponding to the colors of the four Kessoku Band members. I picked one up and tried tying it around my wrist.

It's quite cute.

"Ijichi-senpai, what is this?" It was Little Kita's voice. I looked up and saw her leaning in, examining my wrist.

"This is band merchandise I came up with after thinking all night!" I couldn't help but feel proud as I held up my hands to show her.

Shiko's reaction, however, was rather subdued. "Isn't this just a cable tie?"

I was a little unhappy.

"Isn't it cute? It's priced at 500 yen!"

Upon hearing the price, neither of them showed any reaction.

"Compared to anime merchandise, it's pretty normal..."

"Compared to some influencer products, it's definitely more practical..."

Hey, hey, is there something wrong with these two's spending habits? 500 yen was just a random price I threw out there, and they're both agreeing? Does that mean...it's acceptable?

After chatting for a bit, I prepared to say goodbye to the two of them.

"Ah, are you going to practice guitar?" Ijichi-senpai asked.

"Yes! Right now, I'm the weakest in the band. To make it to the audition, I need to work even harder!" Although I didn't have much motivation to practice, now that I've started, I have to do it seriously. At the very least, I can't practice less than everyone else.

What's wrong with Wu-san? Why is she suddenly covering her eyes and saying things like "too dazzling"...?

Without thinking too much about it, I left and headed to the recording studio. After practicing guitar for a while, I went out to use the restroom and ran into Ryo-senpai on the way. Seeing Ryo-senpai filled my heart with joy. Before I realized it, I had already started greeting her.

"Hi, Ryo-senpai, where are you headed?"

"The roof." Her answer was simple.

The roof? Come to think of it, I've never been there before. After all, there was no compelling reason for anyone to go there together, and I never had the thought of going there to be alone. On the other hand, Ryo-senpai, Gotou-san, and Wu-san seem to go there often. Eh, being alone is really lonely... I'm so envious of Ryo-senpai and the others, they can be happy all by themselves, which is why they can so easily walk down an unconventional path...

I said goodbye to Yūdai and headed to the roof. It was cool here, quiet, and I could see the starry sky that you can't see in the big city. Since I decided to compose a new song, this would be the perfect place to find inspiration.

At the entrance to the stairs, I met Marina-san. To my surprise, she was holding an acoustic guitar.

"Marina-san, you play guitar too?"