Chapter 21: Doubt

"The pervert has arrived!"

Ishikawa Hayato shouted loudly from a corner by the entrance of STARRY, flipping over the railing by the door in one breath and leaping into the sight of the others.

He half-knelt on the ground, looked up, with an expression that seemed to say, 'Come praise me.'

"If you break anything, you'll have to pay for it," Manager Seika said coldly, turning around from the bar and glancing at him.

Striking it where it hurts...

Hayato Ishikawa’s wallet still hadn’t recovered to a safe amount. 

He immediately became reserved, bowing to Seika and saying,

“Sorry, it won’t happen again…”

But as soon as he finished speaking, he put on a lively, cheerful smile and walked towards Nijika and Ryo.

The change in his expression left Seika, who had just started smiling, full of questions. How could this guy apologize sincerely yet give the impression that he hadn't apologized at all?

“Nijika~”

He walked with a strange smile towards Nijika, who shivered at his call.

He slid into the seat opposite Nijika, looking at her wary expression and saying,

“Nijika looked so cute just now, watching the door with anticipation.”

 “I was just saying…” 

Nijika was exasperated by him and didn't react to his teasing. 

“The performance is tomorrow, Hayato-kun, you should be a little nervous.”

She knew that if she reacted to Ishikawa Hayato's teasing, she wouldn't be able to escape it, and even her own thoughts would be muddled by him.

Looking at the two people beside her, Nijika started to worry.

Because Hayato and Ryo showed no signs of nervousness, their calm demeanor was as if they had forgotten they were going on stage tomorrow. Nijika felt as if she had somehow taken all their nervousness onto herself.

She couldn’t relax for a single moment now.

“I perform every day, tomorrow is just a different stage, no problem!”

Ishikawa Hayato said, blinking continuously to signal Ryo.

Ryo hesitated, appearing slightly indecisive about Ishikawa Hayato's invitation, but after seeing 'let's test Nijika's reaction' in Ishikawa Hayato's eyes, she took action.

Watching her move, Ishikawa Hayato knew his coaxing had succeeded.

“Because we are…”

Nijika looked at the two suddenly acting in unison with surprise.

Ishikawa Hayato said, moving closer to Ryo. The two stood in front of Nijika, arms crossed, back to back.

“Weirdos,” Ryo said.

“Perverts,” Ishikawa Hayato affirmed with a nod.

*Thump.*

This was the sound of the drumbeat Nijika made by banging her head on the table. What a dedicated drummer.

Nijika, collapsed on the table, felt her stress levels skyrocket.

“Pfft.”

Ryo covered her mouth and chuckled… 

A moment later, Ryo looked at Ishikawa Hayato, who was continuously comforting the pouting Nijika.

She recalled Ishikawa Hayato's goal for joining the band and the information Kita Ikuyo had sent her earlier.

“I want to create music that makes people feel relaxed and at ease. I want others to listen to such music together, relax together, and enjoy together.”

Others listen together, relax together, enjoy together… others… this man really does whatever he wants.

...

Without Ishikawa Hayato's disturbance, Gotou Hitori returned to her usual life.

Going to school alone, attending classes alone, eating lunch alone, taking the long train ride home, practicing guitar, and uploading videos.

“It’s the second week…”

Gotou Hitori checked the time when she opened her computer.

It had been almost two weeks since Ishikawa Hayato had come to find her.

And… she opened her fake YTB account. Below some of the hastily made and uploaded videos, she didn't see Ishikawa Hayato's comments either.

After checking each video several times, Gotou Hitori silently moved to the wall, head bowed, hugging her legs, her bright blue eyes becoming cloudy.

'Did I get carried away and take his food… or was the corner too dark… or do I smell moldy… Ahhh, no matter how I think about it, it’s a pile of problems.'

Gotou Hitori rubbed her pink hair in distress.

'Let’s just treat these past few days as a good dream, wake up, Gotou Hitori!'

She slapped her cheeks, blocked out those thoughts, and crawled to the computer.

Forget it, no matter how sad reality is, it doesn't matter. There are plenty of people who care about her online.

Thinking this, she turned to open her original account.

She planned to scroll through the comments to restore her almost shattered heart.

[ I listen to your songs every day! I just started learning guitar recently, looking forward to the next one! ]

[ I really like 2:17 here. ]

[ I love her guitar playing—I'm so moved by her skills. ]

[ It's Gotou-san, right? I'm Ishikawa Hayato. ]

Gotou Hitori couldn't help but smile as she read, but when she saw the last comment…

Gotou Hitori: ???

She reconfirmed the account. This was the account she used to upload videos before, the one named Guitar Hero.

She quickly pushed the mouse scroll wheel, scrolling back up the page.

In the video description, she had written… ‘After starting high school, life is so fulfilling, I don’t have much time to post~!’

‘This time I played a song I often sing with friends at karaoke!’

This was a persona she created, wanting to experience the feeling of being popular.

She scrolled back down.

‘It's Gotou-san, right? I'm Ishikawa Hayato.’

'Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!'

A high-pitched, almost electronic scream, caused by excessive fright, echoed from the closet… downstairs.

Gotou’s mother looked upstairs in confusion.

*Bang bang bang*

Frightening thumping sounds, like the sounds of renovations, came one after another.

She knew without even thinking that her eldest daughter was doing something strange again.

Only today, the reaction was unusually big.

“What’s wrong, Hitori is especially noisy today.”

“Indeed, she's never acted up this much before.” 

Gotou’s father, watching TV, also rubbed his chin in surprise.

“Could it be…”

His eyes lit up, then he turned and his gaze met Gotou’s mother’s.

The two exchanged glances, their excited expressions disappearing at a visible speed, and they both sighed.

“It’s impossible, after all.”

...

'…Why, why…'

Gotou Hitori, curled up in the closet, looked blankly at the partition above, like an innocent, injured small animal.

'Why was she discovered…'

After a long time, she recovered from her existential crisis, slowly sat up, and opened her computer.

She clicked on that comment again.

Ah, there was an attached message.

She looked at it.

[ You’re really amazing. Can you bring your guitar tomorrow and play it for me? ]

The comment was sent an hour ago.

Gotou Hitori lowered her head, and after a while, her body trembled slightly.

A smile spread across her face, hidden by her bangs, her cheeks almost melting.

“Hehe… hehe… Since he said so, there’s nothing I can do, hehe.”

…At the same time, Kita Ikuyo, wearing pajamas and lying on the sofa, hugging a pillow, was happily chatting with a friend.

But suddenly, she received a text message.

Upon seeing that the sender was Ishikawa Hayato, she didn't bother replying to her friend and immediately opened it.

[ Sorry, I forgot to tell Nijika about you earlier. ]

Kita Ikuyo: ???

'Wait, what is he talking about?'

Her apology?

They wouldn't still think she was coming, would they? The performance is tomorrow!!

She sat up abruptly, flinging the pillow aside. The poor, innocent pillow hit the floor and bounced back up with a 'poof'.

Kita Ikuyo, with an incredulous expression, tapped the screen at lightning speed.

“Ijiichi-senpai and Ryo-senpai wouldn’t still be waiting for me, would they?!”

The reply was also very fast.

Ishikawa Hayato: [ Hmm… Sorry, by the way, I still haven’t told them. ] 

“What are you doing?!!”

It's been almost two weeks, how can he be this forgetful?!

Kita Ikuyo felt an urge to immediately go to the kitchen, grab a knife, and rush to Ishikawa Hayato's house.

Not having said anything by now, wasn't he making her look like she was intentionally trying to ruin the performance?!

Ishikawa Hayato: [ Well, it’s fine, actually it doesn’t really matter. We just need to desperately find a guitarist, that’s all. I’ll tell Nijika tomorrow. Oh, Kita, you should come and watch tomorrow too. ]

Desperately searching for a guitarist… it doesn't feel like a small matter anymore.

And tomorrow is the day of the performance! What are you going to do to Ijiichi-senpai!?

As for telling her to go, Kita Ikuyo sighed.

She no longer had the face to appear before them.

Ishikawa Hayato said, [ You don't need to worry too much about the guitarist. If worse comes to worst, I can simulate the guitar sound. ]

[ Also, if you don't come, I'll tell Ryo and Nijika that Kita looks down on your performance, so she doesn't want to play with everyone. ]

Scum!!

Kita Ikuyo was so angry her teeth were practically grinding.

But after she came to her senses, she understood Ishikawa Hayato's intentions.

[ I'll think about it. ]