Omnibus Anime: Person in Music Anime, Relaxing and Happy

The slow-reacting Goto Hitori didn't catch on, looking at Bai Qiu and Ryo in a fluster.

The two looked back at her, as if to say, What are you doing?

"Ah... oh... woah..."

"You don't have to force yourself, Hitori..." Nijika couldn't help but urge.

Ijichi Nijika, Yamada Ryo, Goto Hitori.

The three were having their first ensemble practice.

Because the piece Nijika had prepared from the start didn't have a part for the Electronic Keyboard.

And Bai Qiu hadn't brought his Electronic Keyboard either.

They had no choice but to trouble Bai Qiu to be the audience for now.

...The song ended.

The three girls looked at each other.

Soon, under Nijika's subtle gaze, Yamada Ryo and Goto Hitori both caved.

Hitori hung her head in shame, while Yamada Ryo pretended nothing was wrong and started whistling.

Ijichi Nijika shook her head helplessly and looked at the sole audience member, Bai Qiu.

Nijika spoke with some difficulty: "Bai Qiu, what do you think of our performance just now?"

Bai Qiu hesitated, blinking his eyes: "Do you really want me to say?"

Ijichi Nijika nodded as if she'd made up her mind.

"Super terrible..."

For the performance just now, even Bai Qiu, a newcomer to this, could clearly see that their coordination was far from ideal—there wasn't even a shred of chemistry.

Yamada Ryo looked like she'd forgotten how to play the Bass, her Guitar pick sweeping recklessly across the strings.

Goto Hitori's movements looked quite professional and standard.

But she kept her head down the whole time, never once glancing at her bandmates, and her Guitar naturally played entirely on its own from start to finish.

Ijichi Nijika started off playing the Drums' driving role normally, but under the influence of her two bandmates, she couldn't help but fall into chaos.

In short, it was a mess.

Bai Qiu really couldn't bear to deceive himself and say something insincere.

Ijichi Nijika forced a pained smile: "Ah, yeah... that's true..."

"Bai Qiu, did you mix up what you said with what you were thinking?"

Yamada Ryo looked at Bai Qiu, unwilling to give up.

Her words reignited hope in Goto Hitori and Nijika.

"Not at all."

Bai Qiu confirmed.

The three girls let out a long sigh, looking a bit dejected.

Then they all turned their gazes back to Bai Qiu, as if asking what they should do.

Bai Qiu thought for a moment, then comforted them: "Hey, but this is normal... after all, it's everyone's first time. As long as you practice together from now on, you're bound to improve."

The upbeat Nijika perked up again at this and chimed in:

"Right, Bai Qiu makes sense. Also, Ryo, isn't your Bass playing a bit weird?"

Nijika recalled how Ryo had kept making strange sounds by sweeping the strings with her Guitar pick, a little puzzled.

"Oh, really? I think I played pretty well."

"You haven't completely forgotten everything, have you!"

Seeing Ryo still being stubborn, Nijika didn't hold back in calling her out.

"It's fine, anyway the audience can't hear the Bass sound anyway."

For the first time, Yamada Ryo felt that having the Bass sound drowned out was a wonderful thing.

Nijika paused, "That actually makes sense..."

Yamada Ryo then said with a playful look: "But the Guitar, on the other hand, is not so easy to deal with."

"Ah, sorry! It's all my fault."

The voice came through, but where was the person?

"Huh? Hitori, where are you?"

"Over there." Yamada Ryo pointed.

Bai Qiu had moved the burnable trash bin that was originally in the corner over.

Goto Hitori was crouching inside it, hands over her head, her body trembling uncontrollably.

"Ah!" Nijika jumped in fright.

"Hitori, why did you crawl into the trash can? Come out, it's not clean in there."

"I'm sorry for committing such a grave sin. Someone like me really belongs in the trash can."

"It's fine! We won't blame you, right? Bai Qiu-kun, Ryo."

But Ryo said, "Burnable trash, huh? Bocchi, you got into the wrong bin. You should be in this one."

Yamada Ryo brought over the non-recyclable trash can.

Goto Hitori poked her head out in confusion.

Nijika froze and asked instinctively, "Why?"

A flash of insight struck Bai Qiu. "Probably afraid that if Bocchi burns, she'll release toxic gases?"

Upon hearing this, Goto Hitori turned to stone.

She actually crawled out of the burnable trash can and started heading for the non-recyclable one.

Yamada Ryo clutched her stomach, laughing uncontrollably.

"What are you two doing! I told you to comfort Hitori, and what's with this 'Bocchi' nickname!"

Nijika glared at the two troublemakers in anger.

Ryo was one thing, but how had Bai Qiu-kun become so unreliable too!

"And Hitori, stop getting into the trash can!"

Just as she crawled out, Goto Hitori was stopped in time by Nijika. Then, to get justice for Hitori, Nijika gave Ryo and Bai Qiu a chop to the head each.

Bai Qiu and Ryo bowed their heads in apology.

But Ryo immediately added, "But Nijika, you asked 'why' too..."

Bai Qiu looked surprised. You've got guts.

Nijika's face flushed red, and she used her glare to silence any further boldness from Yamada Ryo.

Bai Qiu covered for them.

"That's just the nickname we gave Bocchi just now. Hitori, lonely, alone—so it had to be Bocchi."

Yamada Ryo said smugly, "Pretty great, right?"

"Great my foot! That's like a..."

Nijika was about to scold Yamada Ryo again to teach her a lesson.

"A nickname?!"

Goto Hitori stood up excitedly.

She actually looked this happy!

Ijichi Nijika swallowed the words "like a dog's name" back down.

"See? Even Bocchi herself is happy."

Yamada Ryo grew even more smug.

Ijichi Nijika was at a loss for words. "Hitori, did you not have a nickname before?"

"I've been called 'hey,' 'that person,' 'that guy'..."

Those aren't nicknames, you poor thing.

Ijichi Nijika hugged Goto Hitori sympathetically.

"Bocchi-chan..."

And so, the four of them, amidst their horseplay.

Only managed one practice session together.

Before they were up for their first stage performance.

Too afraid to face the audience, Yamada Ryo found Goto Hitori a mango box and let her hide inside.

Goto Hitori was quite satisfied. Hidden inside, it felt just like practicing at home.

The moment they took the stage, the conspicuous and out-of-place mango box caught the audience's attention.

"What's that?"

"A cosplay?"

"Hey hey, this isn't some anime convention!"

"I know, it's a new type of speaker!"...

The audience below the stage chatted with interest.

Ijichi Hoshino suddenly appeared, arms crossed.

"Strange, why is my mango box up there?"

"Where's the mango inside?"

Hearing this, Bai Qiu immediately pretended not to hear anything and moved away from Ijichi Hoshino.

After glancing at Ijichi Hoshino and seeing she wasn't coming over, Bai Qiu finally relaxed, then took out her phone, ready to record Kessoku Band's first experience.

As for the mango, naturally, she and Yamada Ryo had already eaten it to fill their stomachs.

Ijichi Hoshino shot a strange look at Bai Qiu. Was she really that scary?

Tch, it was just that she'd been a bit harsh in the afternoon.

She was clearly a beauty too, wasn't she?

And here she was, thinking of treating Bai Qiu to a 500-yen drink to thank her for bringing Nijika back.

Whatever. She wouldn't see her tomorrow anyway.

The performance was about to start.

Neither Yamada Ryo nor Goto Hitori were good at speaking.

So Nijika took charge of warming up the crowd and introducing themselves before the show.

"Um, we're..."

Nijika froze.

She only then realized that because they'd been messing around in the practice room just now, They'd actually forgotten to discuss the most important thing—the band's name!

"Ahaha...!"

Seeing this, the audience below couldn't help but burst into laughter, though there was no mockery in it.

Actually, this kind of thing happened pretty often.