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Chapter 75: The Matter of the New Song
🕑 Added 2025-08-10 15:00:15 +0000 UTCIt’s a well-known fact that people often say the wrong thing when they're feeling awkward, nervous, or under pressure.
Saying "What a coincidence" to Yamada Ryo right now? Yeah... not the best choice of words.
Especially when he greeted Nijika with a proper, “Ah, Ijichi-san,” and then randomly blurted “What a coincidence” to Ryo.
In this context, it just came off… weird.
But Ryo understood exactly where Aoki was coming from when he said that.
Because, truth be told, she didn’t exactly want to face Aoki either.
She had fully intended to skip today’s band lunch until Nijika showed up at her place early, grabbed her by the arm, and basically dragged her to the restaurant.
To be fair, yesterday’s events were bizarre and confusing enough that neither of them really knew how to face the other yet.
Aoki was thinking: ‘I need to find the right time to apologize properly to Ryo-san.’
Meanwhile, Ryo was thinking: ‘I need to find the right moment to explain everything clearly to Suki-san.’
Unfortunately, right now was clearly not the right moment.
Since neither of them wanted anyone else to know about what happened, they’d both silently agreed, this conversation could wait until they were alone.
And yet… after all that awkwardness yesterday, they had managed to sit down and have lunch together just the two of them.
Anyway—back to the present.
In the restaurant, Ryo turned her face away with a neutral expression, staring at the floor beside her.
When Aoki greeted her, she hesitated for a moment before replying, still not looking at him.
Her tone was flat and emotionless:
“Ah... what a coincidence.”
And just like that... silence.
After Ryo echoed back that same awkward phrase, no one said anything else.
The conversation hit a wall.
Ryo and Aoki’s awkwardness didn’t need much explaining, but Nijika was beginning to notice something felt off.
She glanced from Aoki to Ryo and back again, a puzzled expression forming.
‘These two are acting weird,’ she thought.
Something about the way they were interacting—or not interacting just didn’t feel right.
Especially Ryo. Starting yesterday afternoon, Ryo had been acting strange.
Nijika remembered how they had all agreed to meet for lunch today, but this morning, Ryo suddenly bailed.
No matter how much Nijika coaxed or questioned her, she just refused to come and didn’t give a reason.
If Nijika hadn’t gone to her house and practically dragged her out, she probably wouldn’t have shown up at all.
Yep. Definitely weird.
Her suspicion growing, Nijika glanced at the two of them again, ready to ask Ryo what was going on.
But before she could get a word out, someone else beat her to it.
A cheerful voice called from behind Aoki:
“Good afternoon, Aoki-senpai, Nijika-senpai, Ryo-senpai! Bocchi-chan and I are here~!”
Kita Ikuyo burst through the restaurant door, practically glowing with energy.
Right behind her was a total contrast—Gotou Hitori, whose gloomy vibe seemed to darken the room just by standing there.
“Afternoon,” Aoki said, using Kita’s arrival as a lifeline to break the awkward silence.
Kita, clearly unaware of the tense atmosphere, looked around at the small group awkwardly gathered at the entrance and asked with her usual bright curiosity:
“Wait—why is everyone just standing here? I already booked a private room, remember? I sent it in the group chat and everything...”
———
Thanks to Kita’s foresight, the room was ready and waiting.
With no delays needed, the group quickly made their way inside.
Nijika, who had been just about to press Ryo for answers, decided to drop it—for now, at least.
She followed Kita into the private dining room along with the rest.
Once they were all seated, the server respectfully brought over the menus.
It was the peak of summer, and in Japan, that meant grilled ayu (sweetfish) was in season and wildly popular.
The menu even had a “Manager’s Recommendation” section promoting the Grilled Ayu Rice Bowl.
Bocchi timidly ordered the recommended dish.
Nijika picked a seasonal veggie salad and a sushi set.
Ryo, who had mentioned earlier she was craving eel, naturally chose the unagi don.
Aoki went with a simple rice bowl without much thought.
As for Kita… she proudly declared that, to maintain her perfect idol figure, she’d only be ordering a salad.
After the orders were placed, the room fell into a brief lull.
But thanks to the presence of Nijika and Kita both naturally skilled at keeping conversations alive—the silence didn’t last long.
Kita, holding her juice with both hands, beamed at everyone and started chatting.
“Now that I think about it, it feels like it’s been forever since Kessoku Band had a lunch like this! The last time was after our first live, right...? Wow, it’s already been nearly two months!”
“We had yakiniku together in Kyoto, remember?” Nijika chimed in.
“That one doesn’t count, Nijika-senpai! The mood was totally different back then!”
Kita shook her head at Nijika’s suggestion.
“A proper group hangout has to be relaxed like this—everyone smiling, having fun together... ahem! Anyway, let’s move on—”
With a light pause after cutting herself off, she quickly changed the topic.
“So! Summer break’s coming up. Has everyone decided where they want to go or what they’ll do?”
Everyone fell quiet, thinking it over.
Since Aoki was sitting closest to the door of the private room, it was only natural that Kita’s curious gaze landed on him first.
Go somewhere, huh...
Aoki thought about it for a second.
Besides the time he'd have to dedicate to band practice, he figured he’d mostly be at his apartment reading or doing something low-key.
If he had the energy, maybe he’d pick up a summer part-time job. But honestly? He hadn’t thought about going out for fun.
So after that short pause, he answered plainly:
“Going out somewhere... I haven’t really thought about it. I might just look for a part-time job during the break.”
“O-oh, really?”
Kita blinked, caught off guard.
The answer wasn’t what she was hoping for, but it made sense.
She gave a reluctant nod, then turned toward Bocchi.
Gotoh Hitori noticed Kita’s expectant look and, after hesitating for a beat, replied awkwardly, “Ah... for s-summer break... I think I’ll just stay home and practice guitar... on my own...”
Truthfully, Bocchi did want to go out and do something with the band.
But being as socially anxious as she was, saying it out loud was another matter entirely.
The words she wanted to say—“I want to hang out with the band this summer”—got stuck in her throat and ended up as the complete opposite.
Kita had no idea what Bocchi was really feeling. All she could do was sigh, a bit disappointed.
“Bocchi-chan too, huh...?”
She turned her hopeful eyes toward Ryo.
“Ryo-senpai?”
But Ryo shook her head too.
“I’ll probably stay home and practice bass.”
“No waaay...” Kita let out a small wail of despair, then turned to the last person left—her final hope—Nijika.
“Go anywhere, huh... I haven’t really thought about it yet,” Nijika said with a calm smile.
Hope: shattered.
The red-haired girl slumped forward slightly, her aura dimming as shadows metaphorically fell over her.
But only for a second.
The next moment, her usual bright and sunny energy snapped back like a switch.
“Well, actually, my mom wants me to focus on extra studying over the summer, so it’s totally fine! I’ll just do that!” she said, nodding as if trying to cheer herself up.
The room quieted for a moment again.
Now that the talk about summer plans had wrapped up, the timing seemed just right.
After that brief silence, Aoki—who had already decided to bring it up—finally spoke:
“Speaking of summer break… a few days ago, I got in touch with Nijima Yusuke on LINE. We had a longer conversation recently about a possible collaboration.”
He paused briefly, realizing they might not all know the name.
“Do you know him? Nijima Yusuke—the anime director that’s been getting pretty popular lately. We’ve been discussing a music project.”
The girls definitely knew the name.
They were young, after all—animation was part of their world.
So when they heard Aoki had been talking to that Niijima, a flicker of surprise crossed all their faces.
Still, when it came to music, the girls were always serious.
No one screamed or overreacted—they just listened closely.
So Aoki continued, “Well—this might’ve been a bit of a unilateral decision... but Director Niijima has a side project—a film he’s working on and he needed a theme song.
I sent him a track I thought might fit... and we agreed to try having Kessoku Band perform it.”
“Eh?!” Nijika gasped before she could stop herself, then quickly tried to process it.
“That’s not really acting on your own or anything! Besides, Aoki-senpai, you’re basically our band leader now. Even if you decided something like that solo, it’d still be fine!”
She quickly shut down the idea that he'd done anything wrong.
Then, with surprise still flickering in her eyes, she added:
Kessoku Band had only been together for less than three months.
Ordinarily, at that stage, a band would still be working through basic coordination and practice.
But with Aoki’s help?
They had someone to ask when things got confusing.
Someone who encouraged them when they hit a wall.
Someone who helped take their original song to the top of the PVC charts.
Nijika didn’t think she was exaggerating.
Even though she was technically the founder of Kessoku Band, at this point, Aoki-senpai felt more like the team’s true leader.
Still...
“B-but... Kessoku Band? Us? Collaborating with Director Niijima on a movie?” she asked, disbelief in her voice.
The rest of the girls wore similar looks of stunned confusion.
Being asked to perform a film’s theme song—it just felt... so far out of reach.
“Yeah,” Aoki replied without hesitation. “It’s for the theme song—‘Fireworks Over the Sky’.”
