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Chapter 107: Negotiating a Collaboration and Broadcast Matters
🕑 Added 2025-08-22 15:31:18 +0000 UTCTaking photos, doing promotions, setting up a Twitter account—those things always felt a bit tedious to Aoki Kei.
He had originally planned to carve out some time soon to get them all sorted.
But the girls of Kessoku Band had asked to hold off on the Twitter stuff until things calmed down with the whole "打上花火 (Fireworks)" project.
Kei didn’t really mind.
He agreed without hesitation.
Still, his to-do list was starting to pile up:
Just a few days ago, PVC Records sent him an email—the reward from winning the recent contest was ready to be claimed.
Then there was prep work for the upcoming album.
And after Fireworks was officially released, the production team for Hanabi would want them to start doing promo work…
Of course, none of that could begin until training wrapped up and the final recording of Fireworks was complete.
Kei decided to shove the growing workload to the back of his mind for now.
He also wasn’t paying much attention to the current chatter online, nor to the increasingly rude comments from Ghost Elements fans.
Just like Ryo had said, apart from her, the rest of the girls in Kessoku Band had been somewhat shaken by the online backlash.
Even now, they seemed a little unsure of themselves.
But Kei knew—this wasn’t something he could magically fix for them.
Thankfully, despite the negativity, it hadn’t snowballed into anything unmanageable.
And at the end of the day, Ryo, Bocchi, Nijika, and Kita were more than capable of performing Fireworks flawlessly.
So even if Ghost Elements fans kept trash-talking them online, and even if that band never apologized for the baseless things they'd said about Kessoku Band...
Once Fireworks was released, Kei was confident.
With the quality of the song and Kessoku Band’s performance, all the criticism would get washed away.
———————————————————————
September 17
Kessoku Band’s joint practice sessions continued smoothly, and Kei’s life was gradually settling into a steady rhythm.
Somewhere along the way, he’d gotten into the habit of morning runs—up at 6:00 a.m., run, then breakfast.
Between 7:00 and 10:00 a.m., he’d either read or watch some variety shows he enjoyed.
Lately, he was into a cooking show called Chef++, which had sparked his occasional interest in trying to cook.
So, he was sort of in the learning phase.
By the way, he’d already finished reading all those Haruhi Suzumiya novels he bought, and he’d completed the Intro to French textbook too.
Recently, he’d started thinking about heading back to the bookstore to pick up something new.
Anyway—after his reading block ended, he’d catch the train to the library and tutor Kita Ikuyo on various subjects until noon.
Then came lunch and a short break, followed by afternoon ensemble practice at STARRY, and one-on-one music coaching with Kita.
It was the same three-stop routine every day. Not overwhelmingly busy, but definitely not much free time either.
This structured daily rhythm kept up until September 16.
That’s when Yuusuke Niijima suddenly reached out, wanting to meet again to discuss their collaboration on Hanabi and the Fireworks track.
Kei, ever the agreeable type, was fine with it.
But he still wanted to manage his schedule properly, so nothing else would fall behind.
So they settled on a meeting time—noon on the 17th.
Niijima had that slot open, and it wouldn’t interfere with Kei’s tutoring sessions with Kita. No need for anyone to take time off.
Which brings us to now—September 17.
The morning went as usual. But after tutoring Kita, Kei didn’t head back to his apartment. Instead, he boarded a train to Shinjuku.
The meeting spot was a fancy restaurant called Aji-Zen. The place looked high-end, and the prices matched.
Kei wasn’t sure if he was supposed to treat, split the bill, or if Niijima was covering it.
But thanks to the ad revenue from his Youtube videos, he was doing alright financially.
He’d even been thinking about moving out of his current apartment lately...
His current rental had that damp, musty smell every time it rained.
After a bumpy train ride, Kei arrived at Aji-Zen around 12:20.
Their meeting time was 12:30, but it looked like Niijima had already arrived.
As Kei pushed open the door, Niijima, who’d clearly been keeping an eye out, immediately stood up and greeted him with a booming voice and enthusiastic tone.
“Aoki-kun! Long time no see!”
His voice carried through the restaurant.
Niijima had a naturally outgoing personality—despite only meeting a handful of times, he acted like they were lifelong friends.
Then again, their last meeting wasn’t even a full month ago.
Maybe Niijima really did like the music Kei had uploaded that much.
As Niijima greeted him, Kei’s thoughts briefly wandered. But on the surface, he remained calm and responded politely.
“Good to see you again, Niijima-san.”
Niijima waved a hand dismissively. “No need for the formalities. Just call me Niijima—or even Yuusuke, if that’s easier.”
Before Kei could respond, Niijima switched topics without missing a beat.
“But never mind the names—let’s talk business. Aoki-kun, you’ve already taken care of most of the online backlash, haven’t you? That’s amazing!”
“I was actually wondering how I could step in to help, but it looks like you handled everything yourself.”
There was a genuine note of admiration in his voice. He seemed truly impressed by Kei’s way of handling things.
And Kei didn’t doubt that part about Niijima wanting to help.
After all, when the tide started to turn online, Niijima had used his private account—Under the Starry Sky—to post a tweet firmly in support of Kei.
He had even boldly criticized Ghost Elements by name, not caring that he himself was a public figure.
Kei appreciated that.
But now wasn’t really the time to bring it up.
“I just responded a little. Most of those posts about ‘Suki-san’ were completely made up anyway,” Kei said, taking a seat.
“Exactly,” Niijima nodded, sitting back down too. “Once Fireworks goes public, all that gossip around your band will disappear completely.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Kei replied with a faint smile.
They exchanged a few more pleasantries before Niijima called over a waiter to order.
After confirming Kei’s food preferences, he ordered a few dishes. Before long, their table was filled with beautifully presented plates.
Just as Kei reached for his chopsticks, Niijima cleared his throat and got to the point.
“Now then—Aoki-kun. The real reason I asked to meet today is to discuss three things: the overall production quality of Hanabi, the idea of a live performance… and a potential radio segment.”
