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Chapter 24: The Friendship Fee
🕑 Added 2025-07-30 20:24:01 +0000 UTCEvery now and then, the usually quiet Love Obstacle Simulation Game would suddenly throw three options at Aoki Kei, prompting him to make a choice.
He still hadn’t figured out the pattern—it all seemed completely random.
Like right now—
Because of something Ijichi Seika said, three new choices suddenly flashed before Aoki Kei’s eyes.
He quickly scanned the options and gave them some thought.
As much as he wanted to pick all three, the game, of course, didn’t have a “select all” button.
He could only choose one from the list.
Option 3 offered three beginner-level skills. They were useful in daily life, sure, but nothing essential.
Option 2 had a decent composition skill at an intermediate level. But considering he could already purchase music from his past life's memory library, it wasn’t exactly necessary either.
That left Option 1...
The mission requirement for Option 1 was... odd, to say the least.
But the reward was far more valuable to Aoki Kei than the other two.
And despite how weird the request was, it wasn’t something he couldn’t do.
Besides, with Nijika and the others all watching, he could already guess that going through with Option 1 wouldn't be a loss—probably quite the opposite.
He could talk about joining Kessoku Band and the project plans later.
For now, his choice was obvious.
He turned his gaze toward the manager for a moment, then shifted it back to Yamada Ryo.
Their eyes met.
Ryo tilted her head slightly, her usually emotionless eyes showing a flicker of confusion.
Then Aoki Kei cleared his throat and spoke.
“Ahem... Manager Ijichi, I heard from Yamada-san that you deducted her pay earlier?”
There was a brief pause.
Ijichi Seika blinked at the unexpected question, raised an eyebrow, glanced at Ryo, and then nodded.
Everyone else turned to look at Ryo too.
Her confusion only deepened.
And deep down, a sudden ominous feeling crept up on her.
That feeling proved accurate a moment later.
Once Aoki Kei got confirmation from Seika, he gave a decisive nod, then looked back at Yamada Ryo.
Blinking under her confused stare, he pulled out his wallet from his guitar case, then took out five ¥1,000 bills.
Speaking in a slightly somber tone, he said:
“Yamada-san, this is for... your friendship fee.”
He wasn’t done.
After that, he pulled out another ¥2,000 from his wallet.
“This is for chatting with me.”
And he kept going, drawing out more bills of varying denominations.
“This is to make up for the pay you lost from talking to me, and also... your band joining fee.”
Under Seika’s gleeful “Oh? Now this is getting interesting” expression, Yamada Ryo’s cold face contorted into a shocked, confused stare.
Nijika and the others were equally stunned.
And Aoki Kei?
He simply handed all the cash to Ryo like it was the most normal thing in the world.
The whole café went dead silent for a beat—until, just as the money was about to reach Ryo’s hands, Nijika’s voice rang out:
“W-wait a second, Aoki-senpai!!”
She turned to look at Ryo with a sigh, then muttered in an exasperated voice:
“Ryooo... Did you ask Aoki-senpai for money again?”
Ryo blinked at Nijika.
Then she looked back at Aoki Kei, who was still offering her money.
After a moment of processing a confusion, shock, pondering—she hesitated briefly, then solemnly reached out toward the cash as if accepting her fate.
“Thank you, Suki-san, for your generosi—ow!”
She didn’t get to finish.
Nijika smacked her on the head with a swift flick.
Tears welled in the corner of Ryo’s eyes as she silently curled up in a corner, still expressionless, holding her head in both hands.
Aoki Kei had asked the question, and while Ryo hadn’t technically accepted the money, he did offer her the friendship fee and other charges, so his side of the quest was complete.
Right then, a familiar notification sound chimed in his head.
[Option 1 complete. Reward has been granted.]
He gained 200 points in the shop, and new vocal performance knowledge instantly downloaded into his brain.
With that done, Aoki Kei decided to ignore the extra points for now.
He gave a mental apology to Ryo, silently mourned her situation for a second, then got back to the matter at hand.
“Ijichi-san,” he began, “aside from the wages and band entry fee, Ryo didn’t actually ask me for a friendship fee, so… there’s no need to hit her. Ahem, anyway back to the real reason I came to STARRY today…”
He took a breath and said, “I want to join Kessoku Band.”
Nijika blinked, clearly stunned.
“Eh?! You want to join Kessoku Band, Aoki-senpai? I mean—can you?!”
Aoki Kei nodded.
He hesitated a moment, knowing they’d eventually need to talk about the Be Original rock band competition.
So he continued:
“I want to join Kessoku Band and enter the PVC Records original song project with you. I want us to win a ranking.”
“Joining the band is totally fine—we’re all okay with that! But... the PVC Records project...”
Nijika looked concerned.
“Aoki-senpai, that competition might be a bit too hard for us right now.”
The Be Original project was open to bands across all of Japan.
For a small, still-developing band like Kessoku, winning would be a massive challenge.
Still, it wasn’t impossible.
All the girls had strong talent and potential, and they trained hard.
With two months of practice and better teamwork, their overall skill level could drastically improve.
Sure, they still couldn’t match veteran bands—but that gap could be bridged by Aoki Kei’s original music.
With that in mind, he said confidently:
“I can help Gotou-san and Kita-san improve their guitar skills, and I’ll write a completely original song for the band’s competition entry. There’s no penalty if we fail, so all Kessoku Band has to do... is focus on practicing.”
“Just focus on practicing...” Nijika echoed, then turned to look at Kita Ikuyo, Gotou Hitori, and Ryo, who was still curled up nursing her head.
The girls had clearly heard the whole conversation and none of them objected.
That probably meant they had no issue with Aoki Kei joining or participating in the competition.
Nijika then instinctively turned to Ijichi Seika behind the counter.
The manager leaned her elbow on the bar, resting her cheek against her hand.
When their eyes met, Seika simply said, “You can decide for yourself.”
‘Just focus on practice. No punishment if we fail...’
After a brief pause, Nijika took a deep breath.
Competing against other bands, entering a contest, trying to win something—it all sounded... exciting.
She turned back to Aoki Kei with a wide smile.
“I get it, Aoki-senpai. Welcome to Kessoku Band! And together—let’s try to win that PVC Records project!”
