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Chapter 83: The First Step Is Always the Hardest—And It Might Only Get Harder
🕑 Added 2025-08-13 15:00:17 +0000 UTCAfter reading the message from Nijika, Aoki replied simply:
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[What's up?]
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Within the blink of an eye, the message showed as “Read.”
But even after five or six minutes had passed, there was still no reply from the other side.
Sitting on the train and staring at his screen, Aoki furrowed his brow slightly.
Nijika almost never messaged him out of the blue. And now, after she did, she just went silent?
Something felt... off.
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Meanwhile—
After her sister's gentle persuasion and finishing up some cleanup around the livehouse, Nijika finally had a moment to herself.
Staring at Aoki’s icon on LINE, she hovered somewhere between hesitation, impulse, and a flash of reckless courage.
“It’s normal for friends to grab a bite together when they have free time.”
With that in mind, she sent the message.
But the moment it was sent, clarity hit her like a wave.
“It’s normal for friends to eat together.” ...Sure, that sounded right.
But inviting Aoki-senpai alone to eat, just the two of them—no matter how you looked at it, that kind of message was suspicious.
It was like a three-year-old staring longingly at a snow cone in the summer while sitting in their parent's lap—
The kid wanted the snow cone. And she... well, anyone could see what she wanted, too.
Which meant—
She regretted the message almost immediately.
A wave of panic hit her, and the thought of unsending the message lit up in her mind like a warning siren.
“No, no, I can’t say it! I can’t just say something like that!”
But... it was already too late.
Just as the thought of deleting it crept in, the status next to her message changed—Read.
And then, almost instantly, came Aoki’s reply:
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[What’s up?]
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“......”
Her fingertip froze in place over the “unsend” button.
Staring at his message, Nijika’s face slowly stiffened.
‘I’m so dead.’
She shouldn’t have acted on impulse.
She should’ve planned it out. Carefully. Strategically.
Even if her sister had made some good points... actually inviting Aoki-senpai to eat, one-on-one, was a completely different thing.
It would mean acknowledging—maybe even admitting—that she had feelings for him.
She bit her lip lightly, and a pink blush crept over her cheeks.
Taking a deep breath, Nijika gave her head a little shake, trying to clear it of all the swirling, hopeless thoughts.
That’s not the point right now.
Aoki-senpai was still waiting for her reply.
She needed to come up with something—anything—to gloss over her sudden message.
Or maybe...
Maybe she could think of a reasonable, casual, completely normal excuse to invite him out.
Something that wouldn’t tip him off... something that wouldn’t make her look desperate...
Her mind was a mess.
Torn between playing it off and making an actual move, Nijika hesitated endlessly.
The livehouse was silent—there were no customers around and as she stared at her phone, it felt like she could hear the sound of her own heartbeat pounding in her chest.
And then—
Six or seven minutes had already passed since Aoki replied.
Staring at that small “Read” tag, Nijika finally—finally made up her mind.
Yes, it might be risky.
If the excuse was too weak, he might see right through her.
But just brushing it off felt too... unsatisfying. Too safe. Too much like giving up.
So—so!
She steeled herself, fingers flying across the screen, and began typing her message.
......
The train jolted slightly again as Aoki shifted his gaze back out the window.
There were still about five minutes left before his stop.
Once he got off, it’d be around 5 p.m.—just in time to grab some dinner before heading back.
He was mentally planning his schedule, thinking about what he might eat, when suddenly, his phone vibrated again in his pocket.
Probably another message from Nijika.
He pulled it out and lit up the screen.
Just as he guessed—it was her, replying about five minutes after their last exchange.
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[Nijika]: Aoki-senpai, are you free the day after tomorrow? I want to visit a music store.
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Reading the message while swaying with the motion of the train, he tilted his head and thought for a moment.
Maybe she was planning to buy a new electronic drum set and needed help carrying it?
Drum kits can be disassembled for transport, but even then, lugging them around alone was still a pain.
As the only guy in the band, helping her made total sense.
He had plenty of free time during summer break anyway—lending a hand wasn’t a big deal.
Just as he began tapping a reply, another message from Nijika popped up on the screen.
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[Nijika]: I was hoping you could help me pick one out… and maybe we could grab lunch together or something…
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And before he could even finish processing that, another followed immediately, as if she were rushing to explain herself:
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[Nijika]: I just feel like you’ve helped me a lot—like with the band and all your original songs—so I thought I’d treat you to lunch.
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His fingers froze mid-typing.
Aoki stared at the messages, slightly puzzled.
Putting aside why Nijika suddenly wanted to “thank” him with lunch, there was something off about the request itself.
As much as he’d learned about guitars over the past two months, he wouldn’t call himself an expert—far from it.
And when it came to electronic drums? He was completely clueless.
So why was Nijika asking him to help choose one?
She knew full well how little he understood about instruments.
He hadn’t exactly hidden that fact from her during practice or casual chats.
So her sudden request felt… odd.
She randomly messaged him, went quiet for several minutes, then asked for help with something totally outside his skill set...
It wasn’t just a weird ask.
In fact, when he thought about it, her behavior this afternoon had been strange altogether.
A slightly ridiculous theory floated through his mind—“Maybe she just wanted to have lunch with me and made up an excuse.”
He quickly shook that thought off. That was way too far-fetched.
Unable to figure out what she was really aiming for, Aoki decided to keep it simple and reply honestly:
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[Aoki]: If you need help carrying the drum set back to the livehouse, I’m happy to help. But picking one out… I’m really not the best person for that. I wouldn’t know where to start.
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The message showed "read" almost immediately.
On her end, Nijika blinked in surprise at his reply—then quickly realized that her excuse probably didn’t make much sense to someone like Aoki.
But thankfully, he’d unintentionally given her an opening with his response.
After a moment of hesitation, and reminding herself that she’d already come this far—there was no turning back now, she took a deep breath and sent another message:
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[Nijika]: That too, but also… I was hoping you could help me pick a good color.
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...Okay, that was definitely a stretch.
Nijika knew this excuse wouldn’t hold up for long. It made her intentions way too obvious.
Feeling her heart race a little, she hastily turned off her phone screen.
She couldn’t bring herself to look—what if Aoki-senpai saw right through her?
But after a few seconds, she couldn’t resist and flicked the screen back on.
Aoki’s reply was visible even on the lock screen:
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[Aoki]: If that’s all it is, then sure. You can pick the time.
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Her heart thumped just a little harder.
She blinked, then broke into a soft, involuntary smile.
She did it.
She’d taken the first step!
