The host was a young woman, likely in her twenties.
She stepped onto the stage with a professional yet sweet smile, greeting each member of Kessoku Band in turn before beginning her self-introduction.
"Hello to all the members of Kessoku Band, and good evening to everyone in the audience. I'm Akie Fushimi. It's truly an honor to interview Kessoku Band tonight."
After pausing briefly, she smoothly transitioned into introducing the band members.
"By the way, it seems like Suki-san hasn't had a chance to introduce himself yet. Would you like to introduce yourself and your fellow bandmates now?"
She passed the mic to Aoki.
Aoki nodded and accepted the mic.
"Good evening, everyone. I'm Suki-san, Kessoku Band's pianist and guitarist—Aoki Kei."
"Woooo!!"
Another round of enthusiastic cheers erupted from the crowd.
Once the cheering died down, he continued with the introductions.
"This is our drummer, Ijichi Nijika. Our guitarist, Gotou Hitori. On bass, Yamada Ryo. And tonight's lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for 'Fireworks,' Kita Ikuyo."
Applause followed.
The host nodded with a smile, jokingly adding, "Wow, aside from Aoki-san, the rest of Kessoku Band is made up of total beauties!"
'...How was I supposed to respond to that?'
Aoki had seen similar comments under a post he made two days ago.
He'd actually considered how he might reply, but no matter how hard he thought about it, he couldn't come up with a good answer.
He eventually gave up, thinking it wasn't something that needed a response anyway.
He definitely didn't expect Akie Fushimi to bring up that exact topic right here, live on stage.
He even vaguely remembered seeing comments like, "Which girl in the band do you like best, Suki-san?" or "Who do you enjoy spending time with the most?"
Wasn't the whole point of this event to promote the film Fireworks? This was hardly the time for these kinds of questions...
The corner of his mouth twitched subtly as he was preparing to come up with a thoughtful response.
But before he could speak, Akie Fushimi seemed to pick up on his reaction.
Smiling smoothly, with the effortless poise of a seasoned host, she steered the conversation forward without skipping a beat.
"That said, even though everyone here is still young, their musical talent is nothing to scoff at—especially you, Aoki-san. I absolutely loved your performance of 'Lemon' tonight. It was so moving, I almost cried."
She giggled, adding with mock seriousness, "Honestly, I was already smitten with your music, but now that I've seen how you look in person... Aoki-san, I'll be waiting for you to become an adult. Please date me when you do!"
Akie Fushimi was undeniably attractive, but her tone made it clear this was a joke.
The audience burst out in laughter and applause.
Still, even as a joke, both Kita and Nijika couldn't help shooting her a wary look.
Aoki took a breath and responded in kind, playing along, "Sorry, I'm not really into the older-sister type."
The crowd roared with even louder laughter, and Kita and Nijika promptly looked away.
The interview moved on to lighter topics like the band's day-to-day life, and whether Aoki was able to balance school and music.
To that, Aoki had no problem responding.
"It's definitely tough managing both school and music, but with enough effort, it's doable.
I've managed to keep the top spot in our school's academic rankings for the past few years."
"Wow, that's amazing!" Fushimi exclaimed.
The audience echoed with gasps like, "No way?! For real?"
As for their everyday life—
While Aoki was the one who usually handled band logistics like competitions and performances, Nijika took care of most of the daily responsibilities.
Whether it was buying throat lozenges for Kita and himself, reminding everyone to bundle up during cold weather, or making sure they brought umbrellas when it was raining—Nijika always looked out for them.
So Aoki spoke honestly.
"When it comes to everyday life... our drummer Nijika is incredibly thoughtful. She pays attention to all the little things.
If someone gets caught in the rain, she'll even make ginger tea with brown sugar for them. Thanks to her, we've never really had any issues in daily life."
"That sounds so heartwarming," Akie Fushimi commented with a smile.
She then asked a few casual questions about new songs—like when fans could expect a release—but Aoki dodged those with vague answers.
After a bit of unrelated banter, the conversation circled back to the main topic.
Akie asked how Aoki had come up with such a beautiful and emotional piece like Fireworks.
He didn't have a real answer, so he simply replied, "It was a moment of inspiration."
Next came his thoughts on the film Fireworks itself.
Naturally, since this was a promotional event, criticizing the movie was off the table.
But the production team had made it clear they didn't need to overpraise it either.
So he offered a balanced take:
"Fireworks is a film with a deep message and solid themes. While the execution might not be flawless, it's definitely a unique and thoughtful work."
It was a diplomatic answer—fair and uncontroversial.
Instead of pushing the movie's plot as a selling point, he shifted focus to the in-theater experience:
"If anything, I'd recommend seeing Fireworks for the exclusive MV version of Fireworks that plays in theaters."
Most of the audience had already seen the film, and Aoki's candid but respectful comment earned chuckles from the crowd.
It was honest, reasonable, and even a bit charming—after all, the MV was genuinely well done.
Once that part of the promotion wrapped up, Akie Fushimi began drifting back into gossip territory.
She asked a few more personal questions, but Aoki and the other band members dodged them tactfully.
Finally, around 7:30 PM, the special live event came to an end.
The crowd slowly dispersed, and though the performance itself hadn't been tiring, the interview had drained everyone.
They politely turned down the director and Yusuke Niijima's invitation for a post-show dinner and went their separate ways, each heading home in a bit of a daze.
At the same time—
After the first special concert ended, many fans who had recorded the performance and interview began posting edited clips online.
The duet version of Fireworks, their performance of Loser, even the moment when Kita glanced back at Aoki mid-song—all of it was clipped and shared.
That night, it didn't quite blow up...
But by the next morning— The comment sections started to light up.