Just like wild animals need to return to a safe nest after a hunt.
To enable Kiyotaka to complete his mission more efficiently, his father, Atsuomi, also prepared a reasonably comfortable dwelling for him in the center of Tokyo.
The extreme training of the White Room taught him one thing: never complain about the environment, only evaluate its functionality.
Kiyotaka opened the door with a key, changed his shoes, took off his uniform jacket, and hung it on the coat rack.
This was a high-rise studio apartment with a wide view.
It was within a reasonable commuting distance from all three schools: Tsukinomori Girls Academy, Haneoka Girls High School, and Shuchiin Academy.
The surrounding living facilities were complete, and the neighbors belonged to the type who did not disturb each other.
After a few days of covert investigation, no traces of informants or listening devices being planted nearby had been found so far.
It seemed that that man was still keeping his word so far.
In the spacious living room, the most eye-catching thing was not the expensive sofa and furniture, but a black grand piano standing quietly in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, with a few complex classical sheet music scattered on the lid.
On the coffee table next to the piano lay a stack of newly printed materials.
They were about market audience analysis of recent Japanese girl Bands, growth curves of popular Bands, genre evolution, and arrangement trends.
Ayanokouji was learning about this thing called a “Band”.
Because some “emotional information” outside of the sheet music could not be quantified solely by the staff, it had to be studied and understood.
He walked into the bathroom.
The shower was turned on, warm water poured down, and a layer of white steam quickly filled the bathroom.
For someone who had experienced the ice-water endurance test in the White Room, a hot bath where the water temperature could be adjusted at will was an unimaginably “luxury”.
Kiyotaka closed his eyes, letting the water wash over his shoulders and back, allowing the muscle lines that had been tense all day to slowly relax.
After taking a bath, Ayanokouji turned off the main lights, lay on the soft bed, and quietly stared at the ceiling in a daze.
The room was very quiet, which was just right for reviewing the situation and progress of the past two days.
Sakiko wanting to form a Band was the core of all his planned actions so far.
About two weeks ago, at the public music festival of Tsukinomori Girls Academy, Ayanokouji went to the scene.
Relying on pre-calculated admission times, he sat in the row behind Sakiko, completing his first close-range observation of this core “target”.
At the same time, he appreciated the performance of the well-known girl Band Morfonica there.
The five girls on stage played their own music.
Kiyotaka noticed that when the performance entered its climax, Sakiko, sitting in the front row, began to lean forward slightly involuntarily, her fair fingers tapping lightly on her knees to the rhythm.
When the lead singer’s voice rose to a specific frequency, Sakiko’s eyes turned red.
As a bystander, Kiyotaka could sense that it was an “overload” state where emotions exceeded the carrying threshold after being strongly touched.
The dictionary described it as “moved”.
Although Ayanokouji could not fully empathize and understand, he objectively recorded this result.
After the performance ended, he clearly heard Sakiko turn her head and say to the green-haired girl beside her in a fanatical and excited tone:
“That’s it!
Mutsumi, let’s form a Band too!”
This was also another huge harvest for Ayanokouji besides breathing in the air of the girls’ school and understanding Sakiko firsthand.
Wakaba Mutsumi.
The only daughter of national comedy master Wakaba Takafumi and popular actress Mori Minami.
The Wakaba and Togawa families were family friends, and naturally, she was also Sakiko’s childhood friend who grew up with her, and one of the people she trusted most right now.
Wakaba Mutsumi was also a high-priority contact target in the entertainment media field on the list given by that man.
In a power struggle, you can’t do without a loudspeaker to transmit sound.
Therefore, in the following days, Kiyotaka checked in at the Tsukinomori music festival every single time without missing a beat.
Of course, out of the most basic concealment principles of tailing, he no longer chose such a close distance to observe the target.
On the penultimate day after the school music festival ended, a new situation occurred.
After the brass Band performance ended, at the corner of the corridor, he saw Sakiko alone intercepting the double Bass player who had just performed on stage—Nagasaki Soyo, asking if she was willing to serve as the Bass for the Band.
Upon learning the purpose of her visit, the brown-haired girl holding the double Bass showed a hesitant and bewildered thoughtful expression.
But Kiyotaka only took one glance and had already reached a conclusion in his heart.
Judging from the certain strong cravings hidden in the depths of Nagasaki Soyo’s eyes, no matter how she shirked on the surface, in the end she would never refuse this invitation.
At this point, another piece of Sakiko’s Band puzzle was filled.
The keyboardist was naturally Sakiko herself.
Data showed that she had shown extremely high musical talent since childhood, was proficient in classical piano and music theory, and would become the absolute core of the Band.
The guitarist was Wakaba Mutsumi.
According to the video materials he collected himself, this star second-generation had participated in media programs multiple times since childhood.
Although she had never publicly demonstrated guitar playing on the show, Kiyotaka learned that she had completely faded from the public eye after watching a certain celebrity’s guitar performance.
Could there be some causal connection related to the guitar in this? The source of this chapter is g.com.
Ayanokouji made such a guess.
Coupled with Nagasaki Soyo who had already been locked in as the Bass.
Then, to form a complete Band, there were only two positions left: drummer and lead vocalist.
In the stalker-like covert observations after school in the following days, Kiyotaka gradually mapped out Sakiko’s action trajectory heat map in his mind.
She frequently appeared in the border area of the three schools: Tsukinomori Girls Academy, Hanasakigawa, and Haneoka Girls High School.
Working backwards based on the location, he filtered out impossible candidates through elimination.
In the end, Kiyotaka locked onto the target from the list of Haneoka Girls High School Middle School Division.
The probability of the black-haired girl he rescued at the mouth of the alley today—Shiina Taki, being selected as the drummer was as high as 60.3%.
Especially considering her sister Shiina Maki was a high-profile elite in the Haneoka Girls High School orchestra.
Sakiko, who was eager to find excellent musicians to complete the Band, would most likely follow this obvious clue and fall onto the younger sister Shiina Taki.
Therefore, that chance encounter at the alley entrance this evening was actually not a coincidence, but an intentional contact after calculation.
Even without seeing the ribbon pendant with her surname painted on her schoolbag, he could still call out the name “Shiina” accurately.
As for Takamatsu Tomori…
Through those intermittent words by the flower bed just now, the answer was already ready to come out.
She was the lead singer finalized by Sakiko.
At this point, all the puzzle pieces were complete.
Keyboard: Sakiko.
Guitar: Wakaba Mutsumi.
Bass: Nagasaki Soyo.
Drummer: Shiina Taki.
Lead Vocalist: Takamatsu Tomori.
Just because of a sudden impulse at a music festival, in less than two weeks, five people with completely different backgrounds and personalities could be forcibly pieced together.
“Emotion, or rather sensibility…
such a hard-to-quantify concept full of mutation possibilities is truly a terrifying driving force.”
Kiyotaka let out a flat sigh in the empty room, then reached out to turn off the bedside lamp, and closed his eyes in the dark.
Most of the peripheral variables that could connect to the core target had successfully sown their seeds.
Next, he just needed to quietly wait for the harvest.