After Asakura, whose date had ended prematurely, brought Gotō Hitori to STARRY, he predictably found Ijichi Nijika there, dressed in a maid outfit, serving drinks at the bar as a waitress and signboard girl for guests attending the live show.
Then, unexpectedly, he also saw Yamada Ryo, similarly dressed in a maid outfit, acting as a suspicious salesperson, peddling glow sticks, snacks, tissues, and even candles and whips.
And then, he saw Ijichi Seika, dressed in normal casual clothes, make an emergency arrest of Yamada Ryo, making her honestly sell drinks with Ijichi Nijika at the bar.
"It's truly interesting to see such scenes every time I come to this Livehouse."
Asakura said to Ijichi Seika with admiration while taking out money to buy tickets.
"Huh? Are you here to pick a fight?"
Even though Asakura's praise was sincere, Ijichi Seika felt as if she was being mocked.
"No, I'm here to join you!"
Asakura answered dramatically, "Let's make this world more lively!"
"Even if you cosplay the character who says that now, no one will recognize it."
Ijichi Seika said sarcastically.
"No, I think at least my teacher will recognize it."
Asakura retorted earnestly, "I think her youth was very likely spent practicing Kamehameha and Hokuto Shinken under the setting sun."
Incidentally, Asakura always felt that Hiratsuka Shizuka had mastered the "Thick Panties Make Girls Cry Fist..." but she adamantly refused to admit it and even planned to silence him with an iron fist, but Asakura easily dodged her.
"Then your teacher's youth was truly quite exciting..."
Ijichi Seika mumbled as she handed the plastic guitar picks, which served as tickets, to Asakura and Gotō Hitori.
However, upon seeing Gotō Hitori hiding behind Asakura, she inexplicably scrutinized her for a moment, only shifting her gaze when the pink-haired girl began to tremble nervously.
"What's wrong with your neck? Bitten by a bug?"
The STARRY owner curiously looked at Asakura's neck.
"No, I was just attacked by a slime."
Asakura replied with a straight face.
"Have you recently gone from orthodox chuunibyou to fantasy chuunibyou?"
Ijichi Seika curled her lips, "By the way, have I ever told you that your white hair dye looks pretty good?"
"No, you haven't."
"Well, I'm telling you now."
"Thank you for the compliment."
"Tsk."
Ijichi Seika looked at the calm Asakura and found it a bit uninteresting.
"That child behind you... a scout from a big company specifically came to ask for some information."
Her expression became slightly more serious, "Although I didn't say anything, I guess some past videos have probably leaked out."
Asakura looked at Gotō Hitori, who seemed oblivious to the situation; she apparently hadn't realized that the center of the conversation had shifted to her and still had a silly expression.
"It's okay, at this level, it will only make those people think that Hitori's performance isn't worth their serious attention."
Asakura finally replied, "Besides, Hitori has already rejected them."
"You're not planning to let this child go down a commercial path?"
Ijichi Seika frowned, "I think at least this kind of thing should be discussed with Gotō's family first."
"There's no need for that. The current Hitori doesn't have the ability to take that step yet."
Asakura answered without hesitation, "She still needs to grow, and unlike what those people expect... Hitori's place to shine is not as a lead vocalist."
"But I heard Nijika and the others say... Gotō's singing voice is unmatched, even those so-called pop stars are far inferior to this child."
Ijichi Seika said, "Although I think there might be some exaggeration, I still trust Nijika's judgment on the basic situation."
"Just a misjudgment..."
Asakura was also getting a bit impatient, "You siscon."
"Take back what you said to insult Nijika!"
Ijichi Seika looked displeased.
"So the siscon part doesn't matter...?"
Gotō Hitori mumbled softly, and as a result, both of their gazes turned to her, making the girl timidly hide back behind Asakura like a hermit crab.
"Alright, anyway, putting these matters aside for now, there's a more important question—"
Ijichi Seika also knew that today's argument probably wouldn't yield any effective answers, so she simply changed the question, "Gotō already has the strength to be recognized as a professional... so are you still going to stay in Nijika's band?"
"Eh? I'm fired?"
Gotō Hitori's expression was blank, looking as bewildered and helpless as a cat whose dried fish had been taken away.
"Of course, that's not what I mean... But you have to understand, when the gap between band members is too great, disputes can easily arise, and bands can even break up because of it; it's not uncommon, in fact, it's not even a minority..."
Ijichi Seika explained seriously.
"Then, then I..."
Gotō Hitori stammered and hesitated, looking utterly at a loss, instinctively clutching Asakura's sleeve, unable to form a complete sentence.
"Sister! Don't say such strange things, Bocchi-chan is an important member of our band!"
At some point, Ijichi Nijika had already moved from the bar to this side near the entrance.
With one hand on her hip, she pointed at her sister, "No matter what, Kessoku Band will never break up, we promised to be a band for life!"
"Huh, did we say for life...?"
Gotō Hitori's eyes became even more blank.
"No, Nijika, you need to understand, it's not that Gotō needs Kessoku Band now, but that Kessoku Band needs Gotō. These two are not the same concept. The initiative has never been in your hands, but in Gotō's hands."
Ijichi Seika warned her overly optimistic sister, "As long as she decides to leave, your one-third-baked band has no reason to stop her from moving towards a better future."
Ijichi Nijika's expression seemed to flash with a moment of panic, but she still stared intently at her sister, as if trying to discern how such sharp words could come from her soft lips.
"No, that's not true!"
Suddenly, Gotō Hitori spoke out loudly, "I won't leave Kessoku Band either... There was never that option from the beginning..."
Then she added somewhat flustered and unconfidently, "Ah, unless, of course, Nijika-senpai doesn't want me anymore..."
"Absolutely not!"
So Nijika finally guaranteed with full confidence, "No matter if Bocchi-chan is a super talented professional vocalist, or a beginner who needs to learn guitar from scratch, as long as you are a member of Kessoku Band, I will absolutely never give up on you!"