Amidst idle chatter, Kiyotaka and the four girls boarded the train together.
After a few transfers, they finally arrived in front of a café named “Hazawa”.
Sitting on a bench outside the shop’s door was a girl with long, straight black hair.
The bangs on her forehead had just been trimmed, carrying the unformed youthfulness appropriate for her age.
She shoved Bluetooth earphones into her ears, shutting out the hustle and bustle of the surrounding world, and became completely immersed in the music.
Her slender legs were crossed casually, one hand tucked into her uniform pocket while the other held her phone.
Her posture exuded a stay-away-from-me irritability, clearly indicating she was waiting for someone.
“Shiina…
Taki-san?”
Hearing Sakiko’s tentative call, the girl slowly raised her head.
Seeing the blue-haired girl walking at the very front, Taki realized that this was the person who had contacted her online a few days ago to invite her to form a Band.
For a split second, an earnest expression of resolve appeared on her face as she prepared to stand up.
However, as her gaze swept across the girls and finally landed on the boy at the very back of the group, the action of removing her earphones came to an abrupt halt.
“You’re that guy…”
Looking at the bewildered, beautiful girl with a signature tear mole at the corner of her eye, Kiyotaka’s expression remained unchanged.
But in order to match the current atmosphere of a “chance encounter”, he still responded:
“What a coincidence, Shiina.”
“?”
Watching the clearly not-first-time-meeting and slightly subtle atmosphere between the two, the remaining girls were completely confused.
“Ayanokoji-kun, Shiina-san, you two…
knew each other before?”
Sakiko curiously looked back and forth between the two.
“Hmm…
How should I explain this.”
Kiyotaka pointed at the shop door behind him, “Students from nearby schools have finished for the day, and there are a bit too many people outside.
Let’s go inside first to grab some seats, and then we can talk slowly.”
…
“Eh??!
Ayanokoji-kun actually did something so cool?!”
“Suddenly showing up to help drive away annoying guys who were hitting on her—that’s straight out of a movie hero saving the damsel in distress plot!”
“I’m increasingly feeling that letting you be our Band manager was the right choice, desuwa!”
Inside the café, Sakiko’s eyes flashed with undisguised praise.
After listening to Kiyotaka’s brief account and Shiina Taki’s awkward yet unrefuted addition, the girls roughly understood the ins and outs of the incident from a few days ago.
“With Ayanokoji-kun as our manager, we won’t have to worry about safety issues whenever everyone goes out for rehearsals or performances in the future.”
Nagasaki Soyo chimed in with a smile, clearly seeing Kiyotaka in a new light.
Although she already had a certain degree of trust in Sakiko’s eye for people, having Taki as a tangible example of someone who was genuinely helped made her mentally accept this boy who had suddenly joined the Band as an “unofficial member” even more.
“Hmm…
Ayanokoji-kun is very reliable.”
Takamatsu Tomori, sitting next to Ayanokouji, also nodded along.
Through their few interactions by the flowerbed over the past few days and the idle chat at the train station earlier, his timely notice of her emotional gaze and reactions caused the little penguin to gradually develop trust and genuine admiration for this boy who could match her wavelength without any obstacles.
Shiina Taki, sitting diagonally across from Ayanokouji, also slowly recovered from the initial shock of their unexpected reunion.
Seeing Ayanokouji’s gaze look over, she immediately lowered her head, lightly biting her plastic straw and muttering indistinctly:
“Even without him meddling, I could have gotten away myself.
But…
I did receive his help, that’s true.”
Though her words were as stubborn and awkward as ever, it was also her unique way of expressing recognition for Ayanokouji’s righteous intervention.
“Since there’s this connection, I feel like everyone will be able to get along even faster!”
Sakiko showed a satisfied smile.
After resolving the initial confusion from just now, as the initiator of the Band, she began to guide everyone into today’s main topic:
“So, to let everyone get familiar with each other, Taki-san, could you please give a brief self-introduction first?”
“My name is Shiina.”
Simple and direct enough that she didn’t even state her full name.
This caused the atmosphere to freeze slightly for a second.
To liven up the atmosphere, Soyo—adjusting the mood with her straw—added in a brisk tone, This story is hosted at g.com.
“Taki-san’s older sister is an amazingly impressive person, you know.”
“When she used to serve as the president of the orchestra, she also participated in local orchestra competitions and ultimately won first place in the competition.”
“And that’s precisely why I invited her.”
Sakiko looked toward Kiyotaka, explaining her motives for recruiting members to the manager-san she had personally chosen.
Unexpectedly, these words meant as praise caused Taki herself to look slightly displeased, asking back in a cold and hard tone,
“Do these things…
have anything to do with this current Band?”
“Eh?
Ah…
Sorry, it…
doesn’t matter, that’s right.
I’m sorry, I spoke out of turn.”
Startled by Taki’s sudden snort, Soyo was slightly stunned, but quickly reacted and hurriedly put on an apologetic smile, apologizing sincerely.
Kiyotaka sat in his original seat, quietly observing all of this.
Living under the huge halo and shadow of others, distressed by being unable to gain recognition belonging to oneself, thus eager to prove one’s own subjectivity and capability.
For people with such a mindset, Kiyotaka—who was the “halo” and “shadow” themselves in that White Room—had seen no small number of them.
In order not to be labeled as “defective products” and abandoned, and to escape the shadow of forever only being able to look up at the supreme masterpiece, too many children gradually became distorted under emotional high pressure, their personalities turning like hedgehogs.
Shiina Taki’s extremely strong self-esteem and unyielding, assertive personality was most likely a defense mechanism gradually formed under the contrast of that dazzling older sister.
At this point, Kiyotaka completed his personality understanding of the last core member of the Band.
Lifting the mocha coffee in front of him and drinking down the last mouthful of slightly bitter liquid, his gaze swept across the four girls who had fallen into a brief silence due to embarrassment.
Echoing in his mind was Sakiko’s emotionally-driven style and behavioral logic, which he had understood through close-range observation yesterday and over the past few hours.
Since his current identity was the Band manager, in order to control this team most efficiently, occasionally imitating her style as an entry point to take charge of the overall situation was completely worth a try.
With a soft clink of the bottom of the cup colliding with the tabletop, Kiyotaka slowly straightened his body.
His calm voice interrupted the slightly stiff atmosphere,
“Pardon me.”
“As the Band’s manager, would it be alright for me to say a few words here?”