At that moment, inside 「STARRY」, Nijika and Ryo were deep in worry.
Ever since they told Kita a few days ago that they would perform on stage together, she had completely disappeared without a word.
Nijika was extremely frustrated.
She had finally found a guitarist, and her sister had given the band a chance to perform.
Two good things had happened, so why did everything suddenly turn out like this?
At least they still had three days to prepare.
But her guitarist — such a big guitarist — had vanished in the blink of an eye!
With only a drummer, a bassist, and a keyboardist, how were they supposed to go on stage?
Was she supposed to perform with an ansai waist drum?
The keyboard was out of the question too — this wasn’t a solo piano performance!
As for the bass… better not to mention it.
Compared to Nijika, Ryo on the other side was much calmer.
She sat in place with a composed expression, showing no signs of nervousness — if you ignored the fact that she had already drunk eight cups of beverages in ten minutes… Nijika asked with a hint of hope, “Ryo, has Kita contacted you?” Yamada Ryo slowly shook her head.
Nijika could only sigh helplessly.
“I hope nothing happened to her…” As expected of the big angel, Nijika was now hoping that Kita simply didn’t want to perform rather than that something bad had happened to her.
She then began dealing with the current crisis.
Even with an emergency, life had to go on.
Soon, she reached a conclusion.
“I’ll go find a temporary guitarist…” Ryo nodded in agreement.
There really wasn’t any other option right now.
It wasn’t realistic to expect the runaway guitarist to suddenly come back.
Still, out of respect, Ryo decided to keep offering her silent prayers.
At that moment, Kakeru pushed open the door and walked in, then naturally sat down beside the two of them.
He quickly asked the important question.
“How’s it going?
Are you ready for the band performance the day after tomorrow?” The two girls didn’t know what to say.
They couldn’t hide it — that would be irresponsible toward the other members.
So they had no choice but to tell him that their guitarist had run away, while hoping their keyboardist wouldn’t run away too.
Kakeru had already expected this.
After all, the six-string “guitar” that young lady had bought couldn’t produce any sound no matter how hard she tried.
No matter how much effort she put in, that “guitar” stayed silent.
Combined with the disappointed looks from her respected seniors, the fear that lying might make the two forgiving seniors dislike her, and the guilt of disappointing everyone’s expectations — it would have been strange if the young lady hadn’t run away.
This was actually part of his plan, though she had run away earlier than he expected.
Probably the butterfly effect.
But it didn’t matter.
In fact, today’s goal had become even easier to achieve because of it.
So of course Kakeru didn’t rain on their parade.
He immediately declared that he would stand with the band through thick and thin.
His words successfully earned him a large wave of goodwill from both girls as they looked at him with moved expressions.
Nijika once again promised that she would definitely find a guitarist before the performance — or she would offer her own head as apology.
With that, the matter was settled for the time being.
Suddenly, Ryo leaned in and sniffed the air, then turned to look at Kakeru as if she had smelled something.
Kakeru asked curiously, “What’s wrong?” Ryo slowly shook her head.
“Nothing.
It’s just that you have a strange scent on you… like it’s from a girl.
Did you get a girlfriend?” Kakeru was genuinely surprised.
He did carry some of Hatsune’s scent, but even without showering, after so much time it should have mostly faded.
Yet she still noticed it.
Was her sense of smell really that good?
Nijika had also heard Ryo’s words and curiously leaned in to sniff as well.
“Really… there does seem to be a little bit…” No way.
Were these two really that sharp?
Ryo was one thing — constantly drinking immortal grass dew and pearls, so having a strong sense of smell made sense.
But Nijika, how were you this good?
Were you actually a big angel?
At that moment, Ryo looked at Kakeru, gave him a thumbs-up, and smiled mischievously.
“Band trio: smoking, drinking, and playing with women.
Even though you don’t smoke or drink, taking the first step still makes you a qualified band member!” Nijika was shocked by Ryo’s bold statement.
“A qualified band member needs to do those things?
Aren’t band members supposed to make music?” Ryo sneered.
“No.
What’s important for band members is personality.
Smoking, drinking, and playing with women — that’s what real band members do!
It’s the rule of band people, understand?” Nijika was speechless.
“Since when is that a rule for band people?
Don’t stereotype!” While joking around like this, the three of them moved past the topic.
Nijika and Ryo both subconsciously didn’t seem to want to know the answer to that question.
Kakeru also didn’t plan to reveal anything yet, so he went along with the flow.
Maybe it was self-deception, but as long as it wasn’t laid out on the table, anything was still possible.
Of course, the two of them weren’t his target for today.
Although Nijika and Ryo were indeed quite attractive, he didn’t plan to move that quickly.
Not only because Bocchi hadn’t been pulled in yet, but also because he considered himself a man with some taste.
If he was going to get something anyway, then instead of a plain thirst-quenching cucumber, he naturally preferred a sweet and thirst-quenching melon!
By the way, cucumbers were excluded — after all, cucumbers taste better when they’re crisp!
In short, his thinking was simple: the frog would eventually be cooked in warm water anyway, so why rush?
Of course, he didn’t plan to leave empty-handed today either.
Ever since he entered 「STARRY」, he had been looking for his target.
She just hadn’t appeared yet.
But he wasn’t worried — she would show up eventually.
“What are you three doing?
It’s normal for band members to be close, but at least pay attention to how it looks!
You’re sitting way too close!” The one speaking was Ijichi Seika, Nijika’s older sister and the manager of this live house.
Her expression was clearly unhappy, and she seemed a bit angry.
Mainly because after Nijika and Ryo finished sniffing him, they had sat down right next to him, so the three of them were indeed sitting quite close together.
Ijichi Seika’s words were effective, and her request was reasonable.
Nijika and Ryo immediately created some distance.
Seeing this, the store manager’s expression improved slightly.
Kakeru looked at her and smiled.
His target… had just arrived.