Chapter 50: Group Three

After fabricating a whole bunch of stories that even she herself admired, Kita finally struggled out of the swamp of her classmates' questions, exhausted, and walked towards the storage room.

She weakly knocked on the door, and after hearing Hitori's response, she pushed the door open and walked in.

Upon entering, she saw Hitori, who had clearly been waiting for a while, bathed in the orange sunlight.

Immediately, a sense of guilt welled up inside her, and she lowered her head.

"Gotou-san, I'm sorry..."

Hitori blinked in confusion. Just as she was about to speak, Kita raised a hand to stop her.

"Sorry, please don't ask me anything. I'm currently experiencing a bit of PTSD from questions."

"Ah... Okay."

Hitori temporarily put aside her confusion, then said, "Then let's start... continuing from where we left off at noon..."

'Gotou-san!'

Hearing Hitori's gentle tone, Kita cried internally.

Although she had thought about competing, she didn't want to use such vicious methods.

'It was all Ishikawa-kun's fault!'

If he hadn't suddenly invited her to speak in class like that, things wouldn't have turned out this way.

But Kita had a change of heart and suddenly froze.

If Ishikawa-kun had been there, he should have been able to directly deny it, right? Although he was mean, he wouldn't play such a boring joke.

Why did she drive him away...? So whose fault was it in the end?

Kita thought for a moment, then, with blank eyes, she mercilessly said in her heart.

'It was Ishikawa Hayato...'

And while Kita was filled with despair and regret, another happy pervert who had gotten a free meal, danced his way to STARRY in the same pose as Bully Spider-Man.

This pervert went from school all the way to STARRY, flirting with countless girls on the way.

But how could a man like the wind stop for girls? With stylish movements and handsome poses, he quickly shook off those girls trying to strike up a conversation, gracefully weaving through the crowds of Shimokitazawa.

Upon reaching STARRY, he ended his movements with a 360-degree spinning backflip. He supported himself with one hand on the ground, looking at the door of the shop in the shadows, and said.

"We're here."

...

More than ten minutes later, at Shimokitazawa High School.

Nijika exhaled and quickly left the classroom with Ryo, heading towards the shoe cabinet.

Shimokitazawa High School, where they attended, had a strict disciplinary code. Daily homeroom and morning assemblies took up a lot of time, making their time at school significantly longer than students at other schools.

"I'm a little worried about them..."

Nijika uneasily took out her loafers from the shoe cabinet, placed them on the floor, and her small feet, clad in white socks, nudged against the edges of her indoor shoes before slipping out and into the loafers.

Ryo tilted her head and looked at her, seemingly a bit confused.

Nijika's gaze towards her gradually turned to disdain, and finally, with a helpless expression, she squatted down and picked up both her and Ryo-senpai's indoor shoes.

She put the shoes into the shoe cabinet and said.

"Didn't Hayato-kun make my sister angry yesterday? Kita-chan and Bocchi-chan don't know, so if those two start fighting again..."

Ryo closed the shoe cabinet and thought for a moment, lost in thought.

Inside STARRY, Hayato and Seika continued their battle from yesterday, while Kita, with a mournful face, tried to dissuade the two, and Hitori hid in a corner with a trash can over her head.

It was a hellish scene.

"How interesting."

Ryo covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Not at all!"

Nijika angrily denied it.

Afterward, she felt even more worried and couldn't help but take out her phone and call Kita.

Soon, the call connected.

Nijika: "Kita-chan, good afternoon. Have you arrived at STARRY?" 

Kita: [ "Ijiichi-senpai, we're just about to go. I'm sorry, we finished guitar practice a bit late." ]

Nijika: "No, no, we just left school ourselves. You three don't need to rush."

She said with a sigh of relief, but the next moment, she heard a sentence that made her heart rate jump to 150 bpm.

Kita: [ "Hmm, but Ishikawa-kun already went ahead. He should have been there for a while now." ]

The phone slipped from Nijika's stiff hand and was caught by Ryo, who had anticipated it.

She naturally put the phone to her ear and said, "Then come quickly."

Then, amidst Kita's surprised shouts of "Senpai" from the other end of the line, she hung up the phone and reached out to pull Nijika.

"Let's go quickly."

"You just want to watch the show!"

Even in an emergency, Nijika didn't forget her role as the tsukkomi(straight man). After a quick retort, she quickly put on her shoes and hurried out.

...

Ishikawa Hayato entered the shop door, turned the corner, and leaped over the handrail, all in one fluid motion.

At the same time, he did a front flip to avoid several mousetraps on the ground, and like a gymnast completing a routine, he triumphantly raised his hands high.

"Pervert, WIN!"

"Tsk."

After landing, he heard a clicking sound.

He looked towards the source of the sound. 

Seika, sitting at the bar, withdrew her gaze, as if the mousetraps had nothing to do with her, her face calm.

Ishikawa Hayato walked over with a somewhat fawning smile.

"Manager-san, today, your employee is reporting for duty."

Seika had long lost her desire to attack the man in front of her.

She had tried yesterday, no matter how close or how concealed the angle of her attack was, this man seemed to have eyes all over his body, able to evade with graceful movements.

She was exhausted, yet the other party hadn't even broken a sweat.

Today, seeing this man approach again, she was unmoved.

Only... part-time work?

Seika turned her head to look at the quiet interior today, then looked at the fawning man in front of her.

She stood up with a sinister grin.

This woman, a former band musician, clenched her fists, her knuckles cracking.

She pulled her shoulders back again and slightly twisted her waist.

"Then how about you be my punching bag? I'll pay you ten times the salary here."

As soon as she finished speaking, Ishikawa Hayato took out his phone and tapped it twice.

Seika's voice came from it, and it was exactly the sentence she had just spoken.

After the playback finished, Ishikawa Hayato said pitifully.

"Manager, please let me work! I'm out of money, and you don't want Nijika to know you said such harsh things to her friend, do you? Please."

The pervert cried on cue, grabbing Seika's arm and shaking it continuously.

He shook Seika until she was speechless. This person really had no shame.

"I know, I know."

Seika, who was already feeling like she might have been too fierce and was a bit stuck, agreed, taking the opportunity to back down. Then she fiercely pointed at Ishikawa Hayato and said.

"Delete that thing for me!"

Ishikawa Hayato's expression changed, and he put his phone away.

"No! This is my security."

Seika squinted at him for a while, then finally gave up indifferently, clearly not afraid of such a thing.

But accepting it meekly wouldn't sit right with her.

"Then prove your strength. Clean the dust from the ceiling, corners, and walls, and don't make the place dusty."

"Understood!"

Ishikawa Hayato saluted, then immediately asked Seika for the location of the cleaning tools, and then immediately started working.

Watching his decisive actions, Seika sat back down in her chair. She crossed her legs, anticipating that this seemingly confident guy would once again come crying and begging for mercy.

Cleaning all sorts of dead corners so meticulously was an extremely physically demanding task, especially with the added instruction not to spread dust everywhere.

Thinking of him carefully going up and down the ladder with a rag, she felt relieved. Now she would see how long this man could last.

As if to hide her inner joy, she picked up the Good Kids 100% Apple Juice she had just bought and started drinking it.

...

Kita and Hitori left school together and walked towards STARRY.

The two girls walked with some distance between them, and Hitori kept looking straight ahead without averting her gaze.

Seeing Hitori remain silent, Kita's yellowish-green eyes moved, and then she tilted her head and muttered to herself, full of doubt.

"Why did Ryo-senpai suddenly answer the phone just now...?"

After speaking, she noticed Hitori's gaze, and naturally put on a smile to talk to her.

"Gotou-san, today we're all working part-time together. I feel so excited."

Hitori looked at some trendy, individualistic boys and girls on the street and felt uncomfortable, and this sentence hit her like a blow to the back of her head

Her expression grew even more somber, and her gaze wandered.

“Ah… yes.”

Hearing Hitori agree, Kita smiled and encouraged her.

“Our first part-time job as a band, let’s do our best!”

A dazzling light radiated from Kita's brilliant smile like thorns directly stabbed Hitori’s chest.

She seemed to have lost air, and her steps became shaky.

Kita’s two sentences completely shattered Hitori’s psychological defense.

Her gaze drifted, and she felt as if more and more people were staring at her like a country bumpkin.

She responded to Kita’s words.

“Okay.”

But she inexplicably went behind Kita.

Kita turned her head in surprise, looking at Hitori hiding behind her, and asked somewhat flustered.

“Gotou-san? What happened all of a sudden?”

Hitori buried her head, pressing Kita’s shoulder, and whispered.

“I’m sorry, I’m still not used to this place…”

She wailed in a low voice.

“It’s so embarrassing!”

When Kita heard Hitori’s words, she noticed her surroundings and found that many people were staring at the two of them because of Hitori’s strange behavior.

Immediately, this 15-year-old girl’s small face also turned red.

She also wailed, “This is embarrassing for me too!”

But while saying it sadly, she still obediently led the way, maintaining this ‘girl train’ state all the way to STARRY.