Actually, Karuizawa Kei had already worked very hard, constantly looking for ways to boost her confidence and protect herself. Pretending to be a gyaru, making gyaru friends, finding protectors, and so on. But the psychological shadow was indeed difficult to immediately erase.
After being a Public Morals Committee member for a few more days, Karuizawa Kei would understand that with Hachiman's protection, she simply didn't need to be afraid of anyone.
However, to avoid today's incident from happening again, in the future she needed to patrol with other Public Morals Committee members in pairs. Right now, her only problem was that she didn't have enough courage, more people meant more courage.
"Bocchi-chan who only relies on you, Master?", Karuizawa Kei looked at Hachiman, who was carefully tying her hair. The blush on her face, which hadn't completely faded, deepened again, and she gently bit her rosy lower lip.
This Bocchi-chan was a socially anxious patient, with only one friend, her Master. And would only rely on her Master.
Wasn't that about the same as her? It was just that her relationship with her Master was obvious, and she very much enjoyed being protected by her Master. Bocchi-chan, however, took the position of "friend" while actually being her Master's pet, accepting his care and protection.
Perhaps… mm, it was hard to say now. She had to carefully see what Bocchi-chan's real situation was. Whether her relationship with Master was closer or more distant than hers.
"Mm, Kei, once you go in, don't call me Master," Hachiman nodded, pinched Karuizawa Kei's smooth and delicate cheek, gave a reminder, and then took her into STARRY.
Last time, he had come once when sending Ijichi Nijika home, but it was too late then, and since her sister Ijichi Seika was also there, Nijika hadn't felt comfortable inviting him in to stay for a bit.
This time, bringing Karuizawa Kei to STARRY, he wanted to get a good look at what kind of place this was. Basically a gathering spot for underground bands or underground idols.
This weekend he would be going to work as a manager for Elio and the other mermaid idols, supporting their concert with actions. Now, if he hadn't even been to a single live concert, how could that work? At the very least, he had to experience the atmosphere of a small concert venue first.
Hachiman and Karuizawa Kei walked down the stairs into STARRY, which was run by Ijichi Seika. At the turn, there was a drink-selling bar counter.
Opposite the counter in the corner was the sound engineer's mixing console, and the performance stage was directly across from the mixing console. Several small tables were placed along the walls.
The space between the mixing console and the stage was where the audience and fans stood to cheer.
The whole of STARRY wasn't big, even giving off a small bar vibe. No wonder it was called a small concert venue. Still, though the environment was overall dim and the atmosphere a bit subdued, the layout was simple and actually looked pretty good.
Ijichi Nijika's sister, Ijichi Seika, was sitting on a high round stool in front of the bar counter, while a cool, aloof onee-san with long straight black hair in a hime cut was lazily leaning on a small table.
Same as last time, Ijichi Seika was wearing the face-lowering outfit of a black long-sleeve shirt and black-and-white zebra-striped pants, with an ahoge on her head, and her long golden hair casually draped down her back.
"Good evening, onee-sans~ I'm here to bother you," Hachiman brought Karuizawa Kei forward, taking the initiative to greet Ijichi Seika and the others.
Ijichi Seika seemed to be a whole 12 years older than Ijichi Nijika, already nearing 30, truly a big sister.
"Onee-san? You're the Hachiman-kun Nijika mentioned?", While Ijichi Seika silently stared at him with a stern face, the cool, aloof onee-san next to her got up from the table, chin resting on her palm, looking at him with interest as she spoke softly.
Though her black, straight hair made her look hard to approach, her tone was actually gentle.
"That's right, Nijika and I are classmates. This is Kei Karuizawa. I get along quite well with Nijika. May I ask how I should address you, onee-san?", Hachiman smiled and nodded, introducing Karuizawa Kei before asking the name of the laid-back, long-haired black beauty wearing an earring.
Though he had watched Bocchi the Rock. and knew this black-haired onee-san was the sound engineer of the place, knew she had dropped out of high school because she couldn't get out of bed, and also knew she was kind and served as a translator for the tsundere Ijichi Seika, he still didn't know her name.
She even had a unique snake-like split tongue.
Unfortunately, despite knowing so much, he didn't know her actual name.
In the original work, they seemed to have never planned to reveal her name.
"If you're close with Nijika… since you call her 'Manager Onee-san,' you can just call me PA Onee-san," PA glanced with a smile at the Ijichi Seika beside her before replying.
"I never told him to call me Onee-san… You should just call me Manager," Not wanting her good friend to misunderstand something, Ijichi Seika stopped staying silent and jerked her chin in one direction toward Hachiman.
"Nijika's in the recording studio over there practicing. The door shouldn't be locked, you can just go in."
Nijika had already explained the situation to her: this boy was a good friend of hers and someone she liked, but unrelated romantically.
Though she didn't quite believe it, because Nijika's expression when talking about Hachiman seemed different from when she spoke of other boys, he was still Nijika's friend, so she wouldn't stop him from coming.
"Alright, thank you, Manager Onee-san. See you later, PA Onee-san."
Seeing that Ijichi Seika didn't really want to chat with him, Hachiman said his goodbye and left. Karuizawa Kei followed suit in greeting them before tightly following behind him out.
"See you," PA responded softly, her narrowed eyes following the backs of Hachiman and Karuizawa Kei, observing the distance between them.
"… ", Hearing how Hachiman addressed her, Ijichi Seika rolled her eyes.
She was certain now, this guy definitely had feelings for Nijika.
Otherwise, why would he still call her "Onee-san" so warmly despite her cold attitude?
"You don't want to see him interacting with Nijika?", PA asked quietly, noticing Seika's lack of enthusiasm.
"Nijika's still young. I don't think she's suited for dating yet," Seika replied without hesitation.
Would a restless teenage boy even understand what "liking" or "love" meant?
Her adorable little sister Nijika, how could she be so easily deceived and taken away.
"Nijika's not that young anymore, she's almost old enough to register for marriage," PA glanced meaningfully at the unkempt Seika, sighing.
"If Nijika doesn't find someone she likes while she's still young, she might end up like you, an almost-thirty unmarried woman."
"What do you mean almost-thirty unmarried woman! Twenty-nine is still young!", PA's airy words struck Seika hard, making her instantly defensive.
It was only a few years' difference! How could she be considered old?
"Why don't you go ask Nijika and see if she's worried you won't get married," PA pulled up her overly long sleeves to hide her hands and covered her mouth, smiling at Seika.
With Nijika's caring personality, until Seika was married, Nijika probably wouldn't be able to let go, even if she had a lover.
But with her childishness, immature hobbies, inability to do housework, and even struggling to take care of herself… Seika wanting to get married... was pretty impossible.
———
Knock! Knock!
"Hachiman, you came? And this is…?"
Hachiman knocked on the recording studio door with Karuizawa Kei in tow, and soon it opened to reveal Ijichi Nijika. Her expression was a bit subtle.
"Come in first. I'll introduce you later. What's wrong? Trouble with practice?"
Seeing Nijika's expression, Hachiman smiled, leading Karuizawa Kei in as he asked.
Bocchi-chan was notoriously difficult to handle, he knew this well.
Even now that she had joined the Service Club, she still only talked normally to him. She was even scared of Ai Elise, so Nijika had probably been in trouble thinking she had found a good helper.
From after school until now, while he was busy fulfilling the girls' swim team request, Nijika had probably gained a deep understanding of Bocchi-chan.
"Well… hard to say… just go take a look at Bocchi-chan yourself."
Nijika's expression was complicated as she waved her hand and sighed.
The recording studio wasn't large but held plenty of instruments, with cables from external equipment scattered on the floor.
In one corner sat a pink creature on the ground, a cardboard box on its head like a duck, and beside it stood a girl with blue, eye-covering bangs and legs wrapped in black tights.
"Yo~"
Hearing movement behind her, Yamada Ryou turned around to look at Hachiman and Karuizawa Kei, raised a hand expressionlessly.
"Good evening, Yamada-san."
Hachiman nodded, not speaking much to her, and quickly squatted next to the cardboard box, clearing his throat softly to the pink creature.
"Bocchi-chan, I'm here."
"Eh? Hachiman?"
Curled up inside the box in self-isolation, Gotou Hitori's surprised voice sounded.
But she still didn't quite believe it, worried she was hallucinating.
"What are you doing hiding in here? Weren't you here to practice?"
Seeing she knew he was there, Hachiman directly reached out and removed the box from her head.
"Uuuh…"
The sudden brightness replaced the darkness, and Gotou Hitori instinctively shrank, but seeing Hachiman's helpless expression, she immediately reacted, hiding behind him to block any possible looks of disdain from Nijika and the others, all while tearfully complaining.
"I'm supposed to be a guitar hero… I have thirty thousand fans… My online reviews are all pretty good…"
"But in reality my level is so trash, I'm not even as good as plankton…"
After being asked for help by her good friend Hachiman, before coming here Gotou Hitori had been quite motivated.
Her long-honed guitar skills were finally going to be shown off.
After all, the original reason she learned guitar was to shine on stage with a band. But as her skills grew, so did her social anxiety, to the point she couldn't interact normally with people, speaking to strangers was agonizing.
She thought that now, with her one and only good friend recommending her to join a band, she could show off her high-level skills and earn his praise.
But who could have guessed that her proud guitar skills were actually useless.
What on earth had she been learning all these years.
Turning to see Gotou Hitori's face contort into a theatrical grimace mid-rant, Hachiman didn't know whether to laugh or sigh.
It seemed Bocchi-chan still needed more guidance. Right now, she normally relied on him, but when she panicked, she spiraled into mental chaos again.
"Uh… we never said your level was trash, Bocchi-chan, just that we weren't in sync…", Nijika's mouth twitched as she saw Gotou suddenly hide behind Hachiman, unsure whether to stop her.
Unlike the original work, Hachiman had recommended her to Nijika because of her high guitar skills.
Before practice, Nijika already knew that this socially anxious recluse nicknamed Bocchi-chan was the guitar hero she had been following online for years, skilled at every popular song in recent times.
But she had never expected that the guitar hero known as Bocchi-chan would play so badly.
Well, not badly, when soloing alone, Bocchi-chan was amazing,.but during band practice she was completely out of sync.
In a band, Bocchi-chan played her own thing while Nijika and Ryou played theirs.
Considering Bocchi-chan's social anxiety, Nijika could understand the reason. This was a newly formed band with no chemistry, and Bocchi-chan didn't even dare make eye contact, making it impossible to coordinate and adjust her timing, so she'd accidentally get ahead and throw off the rhythm.
Nijika looked at Hachiman gently stroking Gotou Hitori's head in comfort, watching Bocchi-chan quickly change from frantic to docile. Suddenly she said, "Um… Hachiman, could you perform on stage with us? Or at least help conduct the band's rhythm?"
She knew he could use magic, and since Bocchi-chan relied so much on him, having him invisibly calm her during the performance so she could keep in sync with her and Ryou would solve everything.
"He's going to join our band?"
"Hachiman can perform with us on stage?"
Hearing Nijika's suggestion, Yamada Ryou and Gotou Hitori both turned toward Hachiman, one curious, one delighted.
Right now, the band was seriously short on members. Their original vocalist and guitarist had quit, leaving only drummer Ijichi Nijika, bassist Yamada Ryou, and newly joined guitarist Gotou Hitori. Not only was today their first rehearsal, they didn't even have a singer.
"Wouldn't it be bad for me to join in? I can play some instruments, but I can't come to the band often."
Hachiman looked in confusion at Nijika, who suddenly wanted him to join.
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