Nijika smiled as she bid farewell to her friends, her body heavy with exhaustion as she left the livehouse hall and walked back to the practice room.
Once the door shut behind her, cutting off the noise of the hall, she let out a long sigh of relief.
The performance they had just given had ended in failure.
Of course it had.
Bocchi completely lost her rhythm the moment the real performance began, making mistake after mistake.
Kita, who had been rushed onto the stage and wasn't used to performing to begin with, became even more flustered under Bocchi's influence.
Even Nijika herself had made several errors.
But still—
As the drummer who had a full view of everything, she had been watching the others closely.
Ryo, as always, played completely in her own world, as if she couldn't care less about how the performance turned out.
Kita-chan, on the other hand, would occasionally steal glances toward the back row—at Hayabusa-kun.
And Nijika herself was the same.
Whenever she felt uneasy, one look at Ishikawa Hayabusa's radiant grin was enough to calm the panic that came from messing up.
The audience's reaction hadn't been good, but the process itself had been fun.
Hayabusa-kun hadn't stuck to the sheet music at all. He just played however he wanted, freely and recklessly.
It was as if, realizing the show was already a failure, he decided to run with it and make it as fun as possible.
He even managed to get part of the crowd hyped up.
Nijika, too, found herself disturbed by his reckless playing—but at the same time, hearing that free, cheerful sound made her feel like her mistakes weren't such a big deal.
With someone even wilder and more high-energy than her on stage, it was almost like they were all just jamming together.
If only Hayabusa-kun could act a little more serious sometimes…
Leaning her back against the closed soundproof door, she peeked inside the room.
In the practice room, Kita stood with her hands on her hips, smiling but pretending to be intimidating as she confronted Ishikawa Hayabusa.
"Ishikawa-kun, hand over that video."
"No way! This will be a treasured heirloom of the Ishikawa family for generations to come."
Hayabusa clutched his phone tightly, like a child afraid of having his toy stolen.
His acting was perfect, his expression full of drama as Kita stared at him in disbelief.
"One day," he said, lowering his voice to an elder's tone, bowing his head slightly as he pointed forward.
"I'll tell my kids: 'If you ever run out of money, find an aunt named Ikuyo and use this video to blackmail her into giving you cash!'"
Kita's lips trembled in fury at his smug grin.
Barely half a heartbeat later, she exploded.
"Ishikawa-kun, people like you will never get a girlfriend!"
"Impossible!" Hayabusa's face turned deadly serious.
The sudden shift in his tone drew the attention of Ryo, who had been sipping a drink and watching quietly, and even Bocchi, crouched inside a half-collapsed cardboard box.
"Even if I don't have one now, I will someday. After all, I'm a man destined to build a harem!"
Gripping his phone like a holy relic, he declared this with a force as overwhelming as waves crashing against a cliff.
"Ehh…"
Nijika and Kita both wore identical expressions of disgust, backing away as if recoiling from some kind of filth.
Even Bocchi froze, staring dumbly at Ishikawa Hayabusa.
But then another voice broke the tension—Kita blinked and turned, realizing Nijika had just entered the room.
She suddenly remembered that she hadn't yet apologized to Nijika face-to-face. Ignoring the pervert, she quickly bowed deeply.
"Senpai Ijichi, please forgive my rudeness that day! I'm willing to accept any punishment!"
"Kita-chan, you're exaggerating."
Nijika waved her hand, completely unconcerned. She walked over, took Kita's hand, and inspected it.
"I'm just glad your hand wasn't hurt, Kita-chan."
"Senpai!~"
Kita's eyes welled up with tears of gratitude.
And then Hayabusa had to ruin the mood.
"Kita just apologized to Ryo too, but what about me? Shouldn't I get to decide a punishment as well?"
He grinned slyly.
Startled, Kita immediately darted behind Nijika, trying to sound fierce but her voice shaking.
"Ishikawa-kun, don't think I've forgotten that you never showed Senpai the apology video!"
Crap!
Hayabusa's expression stiffened. He shot to his feet and activated his perverted ninja arts—escaping into thin air!
"Apology?" Nijika tilted her head at Kita.
Even Ryo looked puzzled. "Didn't we already see that apology video?"
Kita blinked. "…When?"
"That Monday," Nijika replied innocently.
"Ish… ka… wa…-kun…"
Realization dawned on Kita like a hammer blow. Gritting her teeth, she clenched her fists—but when she looked around, Ishikawa Hayabusa had already vanished.
Just as her frustration peaked with nowhere to vent it—
The practice room door opened.
"That guy was sneaking out just now. I caught him for you. Do you want me to call the police?"
Manager Hoshika dragged Hayabusa back into the room by the scruff of his neck.
His escape foiled, Hayabusa covered his face, groaning in misery as he clutched his head.
…
What a noisy, lively, fun band.
But for Bocchi, it all felt far too dazzling.
She quietly crawled out from the torn cardboard box and tiptoed toward the door.
They had called her to help, but her only contribution as a temporary stand-in had been a complete failure.
She—Goto Microbe—
…had better leave before she was put on trial by the group.
If she could just slip out without anyone noticing.
Bocchi rehearsed in her mind how she would explain her departure later.
But then—
"Bocchi, where are you going?"
The question came from Ryo, who had been leaning against the wall watching the chaos with her.
Eh!!
Wh-what should she say?!
Her eyes darted around nervously—and to her horror, she realized everyone else was now looking at her too.
N-no no no, don't all look at me…
Her fragile defenses crumbled under the pressure, rebuilt themselves, then crumbled again. Finally, in a burst of desperation that was closer to giving up than courage, she blurted out:
"Um, I… I'll be going ahead…"
"Leaving already?"
Nijika, who had been in the middle of listing Hayabusa's crimes, turned around in surprise. After a pause, she smiled warmly.
"Then, Bocchi-chan, are you free tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?"
Bocchi tilted her head in confusion. Was there another performance tomorrow? She could manage, but… would they really let her play again, after how terribly she'd performed?
"Yes. We're having a welcome party for you, plus a celebration for the live show."
Nijika's bright, cheerful voice left Bocchi stunned.
A welcome party?
"M-my welcome party?" she asked blankly.
"Mm-hm." Nijika nodded, then glanced sideways.
Her eyes landed on Ishikawa Hayabusa.
At once, he snapped his head around with a ridiculously fake look of confusion, as if he had no idea what she meant.
Hayabusa-kun…
Nijika nearly exploded with frustration. He always played along so perfectly with Ryo—yet now, of all times, he was pretending not to understand!
"Goto-san, why don't you join us too?"
Once again, it was sunshine-in-human-form, Kita Ikuyo, who came to the rescue.
"Oh, and what's so amazing about a runaway guitarist suddenly speaking up?"
Hayabusa, who had just been playing dumb, now ghosted up behind Nijika and Kita. Resting his chin on Nijika's shoulder, he whispered in a sinister tone to Kita.
Kita's smile instantly froze, her face going pale as if struck by an arrow, and she theatrically collapsed, "coughing blood."
You're not helping—you're making this worse!
"Ishikawa-kun!!" Nijika snapped.
But Hayabusa only continued, "Still, as your senpai, I'd be happy to have you. So? Will you join us?"
Kita scrambled back to her feet, staring at him in confusion.
It didn't seem like Ishikawa was joking around just to interfere. More like he was deliberately blocking them.
And yet, his invitation had been spoken so casually, as if it didn't matter either way.
Why?
…
Bocchi, who had felt a flutter of joy and nervous excitement at being invited, now hesitated, not knowing how to respond.
But when she saw Hayabusa making a mess of things again, her fragile relief began to crumble.
Was it because her playing had been so awful that they didn't actually want her to join?
But then Hayabusa spoke again, in that same unpressured tone as before—no force, no expectations, leaving the choice completely up to her.
Some of the tension eased in her chest. She reaffirmed her thoughts.
Bocchi lowered her head, stayed silent for a few seconds—then looked up, summoning every ounce of courage.
"I… I want to join."