The next day was the entrance exam.
For Aoki, the test wasn't particularly difficult.
Since he had reviewed everything the night before, he was able to answer most questions precisely and spot errors with ease.
Because it was just a placement test, each subject's exam time was relatively short.
In the morning, they tackled Japanese, Math, and Social Studies.
The rest of the subjects were covered in the afternoon.
After spending the entire day buried in exams, right before school ended, Hiratsuka Shizuka approached him about the upcoming speech.
Well—"approached" might be a stretch.
In truth, there weren't really any restrictions at all.
The topic was completely up to him, as long as it wasn't anything inappropriate for a high schooler.
Whether it was about the band or academics, anything was fair game.
The school was clearly giving Aoki a lot of leeway—as expected from someone who doubled as a great PR asset.
He agreed without issue, gave the speech some brief thought... then quickly pushed it to the back of his mind.
Around 4 PM after school, he rushed over to the Fireworks production team's venue, as previously arranged.
Once the other Kessoku Band members arrived, they began checking the venue and doing rehearsals, which continued until around 7 in the evening.
Having already submitted his leave request, Aoki was set to perform in the featured concert the next day.
After that, he still needed to find time for the school speech and a radio recording session.
Thankfully, not everything would be as tightly packed as today...
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October 14.
At a gymnasium even larger than the last one, Kessoku Band held their special live concert.
This time, the post-concert interview went off without a hitch.
As before, a large portion of the spotlight was given to promoting the Fireworks movie.
After the performance, he and the girls went out for dinner together.
One thing worth mentioning: the prize money from the PVC regional branch had finally been distributed.
So, during dinner, Aoki brought it up.
Truthfully, none of the girls seemed particularly concerned about the prize.
If Aoki hadn't said anything, they probably would've forgotten about it altogether.
But he wasn't the type to just keep it all to himself, so after mentioning it, he evenly split the bonus among the members without hesitation.
After that, they casually discussed plans for an album.
Due to tight scheduling, things had to be set in motion quickly.
They'd need to start practicing the ten planned songs to prep for the album release.
But before that, they still had to choose songs that best fit Kessoku Band's style...
When that topic wrapped up, Aoki mentioned something else—he'd been thinking about moving and needed suggestions on where to rent an apartment.
The girls' responses... well, let's just say there was definitely some bias involved.
"Eh? If you're looking to move... I think somewhere around Shimokitazawa could be great? I heard there's a nice place up for rent nearby—and it's super close to the live house. Way more convenient!" That was obviously from Nijika.
"If not Shimokitazawa, there's actually a reasonably priced apartment near my place. It's cozy and quiet. If you're interested, you should definitely check it out," Kita added, jumping in with her own suggestion.
Bocchi-chan, having no real experience with this sort of thing, wisely chose to stay silent.
As for Ryo...
"Just move in with me. Rent's cheap. You only have to pay, like..."
Aoki immediately ignored the rest of that sentence.
He took Nijika and Kita's suggestions into consideration and gave it some thought.
But it was unlikely he'd make a decision in the next three days—he still had plenty of time to figure it out.
By the time he got back to his apartment after dinner, it was already 8:40 PM.
Tomorrow was the opening ceremony.
After the morning homeroom session, the event would begin.
Kei's speech was scheduled fairly early—around 10 AM.
Since the topic was open-ended, preparing the speech didn't take long at all.
It didn't need to be anything formal or groundbreaking—Hiratsuka-sensei had made that clear the day before.
With that in mind, Kei polished his draft a bit, wrapped up some long-overdue homework, and relaxed by watching a variety show: Culinary++.
Sometimes he seriously wondered—can someone actually get better at cooking just by watching shows like this, without ever stepping into the kitchen?
Like that time he tried grilling meat...
Then again, his theoretical knowledge had improved.
For example, when tonight's episode mentioned beef brisket, Kei suddenly realized—what he had grilled that day wasn't pork belly like he thought, but actually brisket.
Not that he knew what to do with that information...
With that odd revelation, he started daydreaming about finding an apartment where he could cook without filling the entire place with smoke.
Then, at exactly 10 PM, he got ready for bed.
The night passed uneventfully.
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October 15.
He woke up early, washed up, went for a morning jog, had breakfast, and arrived at school around 8.
The first period was replaced by a special homeroom.
The classroom buzzed with chatter, until the bell rang and Hiratsuka-sensei walked in—promptly silencing everyone.
She scanned the room with a satisfied look, then began her announcements for the opening ceremony.
Most of it was the usual stuff: behave, stay safe, don't be noisy, etc.
She also reminded everyone that entrance exam results would be released today, so they should be mentally prepared.
She didn't bother dragging out the lecture—by the time she was done, only five minutes had passed.
So she moved on to other, non-ceremony-related matters.
"By the way, the second-years will be going on their autumn school trip in about two weeks. You guys can start discussing and voting on where to go."
She'd brought it up ahead of time so they'd have room to plan.
Then added, "But just because I'm telling you early doesn't mean you can ignore your studies—focus on school first until the trip actually arrives."
As soon as she mentioned the trip, the students practically exploded in excitement, shouting in unison, "Okay!"
Kei didn't join in.
Instead, he mulled it over quietly—A school trip, huh...
Back at Shirose High, they didn't have things like this.
Supposedly, all the time and funds normally set aside for field trips had been redirected into improving teacher resources.
So being able to experience something like this now at Shuchiin was kind of refreshing.
Going on a trip with classmates—well, that actually sounded like it could be fun...