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Chapter 99: Time to Strike Back!
🕑 Added 2025-08-19 16:01:54 +0000 UTCDinner was a set meal at a small restaurant.
Aoki didn’t take long to finish—ten minutes tops, just enough for the portion that matched his appetite.
By 5:50 p.m., after finishing his meal, he started walking back to the livehouse.
By the time he got there, Kita was already waiting.
At six o’clock sharp, he began coaching Kita on vocal pronunciation, followed by some basic tips on guitar technique.
Their exchange remained minimal.
Outside of the instructions necessary for teaching, there was barely any casual conversation.
Still, Kita was improving rapidly—her singing skills were getting better by the day.
Her guitar technique wasn’t catching up quite as fast, but she was making steady progress there too.
They wrapped up the session around 8 p.m.
After reminding her to get a good night’s rest, Aoki saw her off.
He didn’t head back to his apartment right away.
Instead, he stayed behind to help clean up around the livehouse before finally leaving.
Boarding a train back to his small rental apartment, he found himself surrounded by mostly tired, suited-up office workers.
As a high school student in uniform, he stood out—just slightly out of place among the sea of overworked adults.
The train wasn’t too crowded.
He found a seat and sat down.
As the train rocked gently along the tracks, he suddenly remembered: he hadn’t checked the internet all day.
He had no idea what the current state of online opinion was.
His phone was still tucked away in his pocket, and since he was still on the train, he didn’t rush to pull it out.
It wasn’t a long ride—less than ten minutes later, he arrived at his station and returned to his not-so-cozy, definitely cramped little apartment.
After tidying up a bit, he finally sat down, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone.
Aoki already had a feeling—by now, the rumors and slander surrounding Kessoku Band, the girls, and himself had probably doubled from the day before.
With Ghost Elements publicly jumping in, major media outlets voicing "expert opinions," the hive mind of netizens, and the ever-present push of corporate interests...
He unlocked the screen and opened social media.
A few scrolls in, and sure enough, there they were—dozens of posts about Kessoku Band.
First was the media article that had climbed to the top of the trending list:
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“Suki-san, the so-called genius leading Kessoku Band in their collab with Fireworks—was choosing the lead vocalist their biggest mistake?
A prominent music critic weighs in: ‘Wanting to perform without putting in the effort? What are they, kids playing house?’
Did Yuusuke Niijima make the wrong call this time?”
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Then came the posts speculating that Aoki’s entire music portfolio was nothing more than a product of capital manipulation.
Titles like:
“Japan’s Music Industry is Dying at the Hands of Corporate Greed”
“The Fake Genius”
“A Manufactured Prodigy”
…were popping up like weeds.
Next were the attacks targeting the girls in the band—especially Kita.
Slander. Rumors. Smear campaigns.
Most of the people posting this garbage didn’t care about truth or decency.
They just wanted a slice of attention or profit. Integrity? Out the window.
And among all those attacks, the harshest vitriol was reserved for the girl now known to be the band’s lead vocalist—Kita Ikuyo.
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“First it was Loser, now it’s the Fireworks theme. Both times Suki-san pushed Kita as the main vocalist. Could there be… something going on behind the scenes?”
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There were tons of posts like that.
Aoki didn’t know how Kita and the others would feel after reading those kinds of comments.
But he knew exactly what he was feeling right now.
It was exactly what he’d expected… No, it was worse.
He took a long, deep breath, forcing down the emotional wave rising in his chest.
He had no desire to keep scrolling through that toxic cesspool any longer, and with a flick of his thumb, he shut down the app entirely.
He was about to turn off his phone altogether when—just before the screen went dark—a message popped up on LINE.
He tapped it, only to find… a promotional sticker ad featuring Kumamon.
He didn’t bother reading it and quickly closed the ad.
But just as the chat screen returned to the main interface, Aoki suddenly noticed something—he’d missed a message from Kita Ikuyo earlier.
On instinct, he tapped open their conversation.
And at that moment, after several days of silence, the message finally appeared as "read."
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[Kita Kita]: “This has nothing to do with Aoki-senpai. So please… don’t let it bother you.”
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...
He turned off the phone screen and stood up.
It was already 8:40 p.m. Outside, the sky was pitch black.
He stared out the window for a long moment before pulling his gaze back inside.
His face showed no expression. His emotions were now eerily calm—too calm.
Rumors. Smears. Attacks.
Baseless insults thrown at him. Mockery flung at the girls. Lies aimed at Kita...
There are some things one can endure. But there are others—things you should never have to.
Silently enduring slander?
That was never something Aoki could do.
From the very beginning, ever since Yuusuke Niijima first told him this could happen, Aoki Kei had already made up his mind.
He would fight back—and he would fight back hard.
So—
Up until now, he’d still been debating which song to use.
But in this moment, Aoki knew exactly what to do.
He opened the point store and exchanged points for a musical score.
Then, from the guitar bag sitting off to the side, he pulled out his instrument.
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Thirty minutes later—
At 9:20 p.m., a new video appeared on Suki-san’s account.
