October 10th. Clear skies.
The autumn wind was crisp, but with the sun still gently warming the city, the breeze didn't carry much of a chill.
These few days were likely to be the most pleasant of the season—just days earlier, the midday heat had still lingered, and in the coming days, the cold would begin to creep in.
Aoki had woken up at 7 a.m. for his usual morning jog, and after returning to the apartment, he'd already eaten breakfast.
Today and tomorrow were packed full of activity, forming a stark contrast to the unexpected stretch of free time a few days prior.
As for today: morning rehearsal, followed by a meeting with the Fireworks production team to go over important details and requests, then a site walkthrough, and a short interview rehearsal.
The schedule was tight.
Despite having barely rested for a week, things were already ramping up again.
But that wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Staying busy was a good sign—it meant Kessoku Band was still riding the wave of their growing popularity.
After returning to the apartment, Kei's thoughts wandered until he remembered the official Kessoku Band accounts he'd launched yesterday.
Curious, he opened both their Yutube and Twitter profiles to check their status.
He hadn't expected much.
And yet, even Aoki was stunned by what he saw.
Youtube had shown modest growth so far, but it was Twitter that had exploded overnight.
In just a single night, their Twitter follower count had surged past 300,000 and was now approaching 400,000. That kind of growth was outrageous.
Kei hadn't paid for followers.
Twitter, unlike the social media platforms in his previous life, didn't pad accounts with bot followers either.
Which meant—almost all of those accounts were real people.
He even noticed that many of the commenters weren't local fans.
Among the replies, Kei spotted several foreign languages.
Thanks to the momentum from Fireworks, it was safe to say that Kessoku Band had gone completely viral.
Of course, the internet was fickle.
If they couldn't follow this up with more standout work, no matter how explosive their breakthrough, the spotlight would eventually fade.
So they had no choice but to keep pushing forward.
A quick glance at the comment section revealed most people were gushing over the band members' looks.
Some even claimed they were becoming instant fans just based on appearance—which in turn sparked playful accusations of being shallow.
Aside from that, many fans were begging for a new song or expressing excitement for the upcoming solo concert.
After skimming the comments, Kei put his phone away and got ready to head out to the livehouse.
What he didn't notice, having ignored Youtube for the most part, was that a street performance video of him and Ryo from long ago had quietly started gaining traction.
———————————————————————
Around 8 a.m., Kei arrived at the livehouse by train.
Kita and Bocchi hadn't arrived yet, so with only three members present, practice was on hold. Kei, Ryo, and Nijika spent some time casually chatting, mostly about the buzz surrounding their social media accounts, before letting the topic drop.
Just as Kei looked down at his phone to check the time, Ryo suddenly interrupted.
"Oh right, Suki-san. Try this. It actually tastes pretty good."
Her voice was as flat as ever as she handed him a yellow-wrapped piece of candy.
Kei looked up, a little confused, and the moment he saw the wrapper, he realized what it was.
He'd encountered this candy back when he worked part-time at a convenience store.
It was notoriously sour—deliberately designed to prank people.
An ironic fate for a candy meant to bring joy.
But setting that aside, the fact that Ryo was now offering him this candy was… suspicious.
Thinking quickly about how he might get back at her, Kei calmly accepted the candy with a straight face and a polite "Thanks."
As he unwrapped it, he asked casually, "Just this one? You got any more?"
Nijika seemed ready to stop him but hesitated when Ryo subtly shook her head with pleading eyes.
Ryo replied with her usual blank expression, "I had one earlier. But I've still got more. Want another?"
Kei was at least 90% sure she was lying about having tried one herself.
Still, he said nothing more.
Without hesitation, he popped the candy into his mouth.
Despite the overwhelming sourness, he kept his expression perfectly still.
After a moment, he even spoke up again, tone steady.
"Not bad. Where'd you get it? I might pick up some later."
"…Not bad?" Ryo, who'd been expecting him to wince or spit it out, blinked in surprise. "You're serious, Suki-san?"
"Sour? No, not at all. Didn't taste sour to me."
Now thoroughly confused, Ryo pulled out another piece of the same candy from her pocket.
She hadn't actually tried it before, and unsure of just how sour it might be, hesitated a second before unwrapping and placing it in her mouth.
Kei's trap had worked.
The moment Ryo popped the candy in, Kei turned away, pulled a napkin from his pocket, and discreetly spat out his own still-burning piece of sour hell.
He fought back the trembling at the corners of his lips, forced a smile, and gave her a thumbs-up.
As for Ryo—
After previously pranking both the manager and Nijika, this was the first time she'd actually tasted the infamous candy herself.
Her eyes narrowed as the intense sourness hit her full force, tears even forming in the corners of her eyes.
"S-So sour…"
Not long after that little detour, Bocchi and Kita arrived at the livehouse as well.
Ryo, now determined to prank the other two with her remaining candies, was stopped cold by a firm flick to the forehead from Kei.
Practice resumed shortly after.
They continued until around 11 a.m., before taking a break for lunch.
Rather than return to their apartments, the group grabbed a quick meal together nearby.
Their next appointment was early in the afternoon. Around 1 p.m., they headed to the meeting spot designated by the Fireworks production team.
They confirmed the performance setlist with the staff.
The song Uchiage Hanabi would make up the bulk of it, though they were also allowed to perform a few other tracks during the set.
After that, they familiarized themselves with the interview layout and ran through a brief rehearsal of the segment.
They spent time getting to know the venue until around 4 p.m.
Before they left, Kei went over some final technical concerns and performance notes with Yuusuke Niijima.
By 4:30 p.m., all preparations were complete, and the band members returned to the livehouse.
After chatting for a bit inside STARRY, the group parted ways for the evening—everyone heading home to rest for the big day ahead.