Feeling the faint tugging at his cuff, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka turned his head slightly to meet those pink pupils.
After their conversations by the flower bed, the introverted Takamatsu Tomori had subconsciously built a certain degree of trust in him.
“Well, from my perspective, I certainly hope everyone can produce original songs as soon as possible,” Ayanokoji replied to Tomori.
His calm words carried a soothing effect, and his volume was loud enough for the rest of the table to hear the thoughts of the band manager.
“If we blindly cover other people’s tunes, not only will we fail to form the band’s core competitiveness, but when commercial performances happen in the future, it might also cause some troublesome copyright disputes.”
Ayanokoji had long known that group activities of an artistic nature inevitably involved differences.
Upon their first meeting today, these girls with distinct personalities and rich inner worlds had already shown impressive conflict potential.
Managing this band was definitely not going to be easy.
In that case, in order to gradually gain the trust of the target characters—namely Togawa and Wakaba—then, when the time was right, execute the plan tailored for the two of them to significantly advance the progress and deliver the first result to that man.
Before that, stepping into the role of manager and letting this band complete at least one successful performance seemed like a good choice as an incidental bonus of experiencing freedom.
“Haha, Ayanokoji-kun is really looking more and more like a manager desuwa! That occasional realistic, meticulous side of you also makes people feel very reliable.”
Togawa Sakiko smiled and responded.
She keenly noticed that her own band manager’s effect in expressing opinions was surprisingly good.
Soyo listened and nodded thoughtfully, while Taki, who had just raised a question, no longer objected because of the subtext in Ayanokoji’s words—affirming the abilities of the band members and expecting commercialization as soon as possible.
Thus, Sakiko hurriedly struck while the iron was hot and said, “Everyone doesn’t need to worry about the difficulty of originality. Composition will be handled together by me and Ayanokoji-kun, who is well-versed in music theory.”
“And the lyrics will be left to this lyric-writing genius, Tomorin! Ayanokoji-kun will also help review and refine them.”
Hearing her name, Takamatsu Tomori’s body suddenly stiffened.
Because of yesterday’s confession, Togawa Sakiko already knew that what Tomori had shown her before was just a haphazardly written, radio-wave-style diary.
On the way here, due to a lack of confidence in herself and worrying that the new members would think what she wrote was not good enough, Tomori had even specially taken out the insect-covered notebook and anxiously asked Ayanokoji to look it over.
Therefore, facing Taki’s slightly urging gaze at the moment, as well as Nagasaki Soyo’s gentle expectation of “I want to see it too,” Tomori subconsciously turned her head and exchanged a glance with Ayanokoji beside her.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka returned a calm look and nodded slightly.
Drawing a trace of courage from those calm amber eyes, Takamatsu Tomori finally took a deep breath.
With slightly trembling hands, she handed over the notebook.
“There won’t be any problems desuwa,” Sakiko also smiled gently on the side to cheer her on.
If it were a choice between the two, compared to the strong-aura Shiina, the timid Takamatsu was obviously closer to the seemingly gentle Nagasaki.
Nagasaki Soyo was slightly stunned, and took the notebook with both hands.
Mutsumi and Taki beside her leaned in at the same time.
After reading it, Wakaba Mutsumi nodded slightly, and Nagasaki Soyo smiled and gave her evaluation:
“I’ve never written lyrics before, so I think it’s already amazing that Tomori-kun was able to write them.”
It seems Nagasaki doesn’t really approve of the lyrics.
Catching the momentary subtle change in Soyo’s expression, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka made such a judgment in his heart.
For Nagasaki, who was accustomed to catering to others, in this atmosphere where everyone was full of expectations, merely giving a hollow evaluation of “it’s already amazing to write it out” had already exposed her true inner thoughts.
One possibility was that, like Ayanokoji, she couldn’t empathize with these words.
Another possibility was that the emotions contained in Takamatsu Tomori’s lyrics poked at certain things deep inside her heart that she was unwilling to admit and unable to face directly.
What surprised Ayanokoji a little was that after reading it, Shiina on the side instead flashed a momentary light in her eyes.
It seemed she resonated with these lyrics.
Why would the two people show such different attitudes toward the exact same set of lyrics?
To figure this out, one had to gain a deeper understanding of their hearts and the emotions contained in the lyrics.
And these, Ayanokoji couldn’t do for the time being.
…
Under Sakiko’s suggestion, everyone left the café and came to a rehearsal studio.
When entering the door, Nagasaki Soyo even half-jokingly said that it was a bit regrettable not to be able to book the practice room of “CiRCLE.”
Learning that the other party had wanted to accidentally encounter the band members she admired, Togawa Sakiko unexpectedly and uprightly criticized Nagasaki Soyo’s impure motives.
After entering the practice room, the other members quickly took their instruments and stood in their respective positions.
Only Takamatsu Tomori stood blankly in place like a lost child, dazed.
“Takamatsu, aren’t you going to stand over there?”
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, with his hands in his pants pockets, walked up behind her, stopped, and signaled with his eyes to the position in the exact center of the practice room where a microphone stood.
“As for the lead vocalist, you should stand over there.”
“…Eh?”
Hearing this, Takamatsu Tomori instantly looked like a startled small animal.
Her hands were nervously crossed in front of her lower abdomen, and her body made a slightly hunching instinctive defensive posture. Get faster updates on g.com.
“Is it… for me to sing?”
Looking at the surprise and unease in her eyes, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka finally understood.
Togawa…
simply hadn’t communicated this matter with Tomori in advance.
Dragging people to the practice room, only to temporarily notify the other party like pushing a duck onto a shelf: “You will be the lead vocalist. I believe you can definitely do it!”
If it were a romantic personality like Togawa Sakiko, basically dominated by emotion and idealism, maybe she really could do such a thing.
As for Nagasaki, forced by the gaze of others’ expectations, with a little pressure applied, she could probably bite the bullet and step up.
But for the introverted and even somewhat withdrawn Tomori and Wakaba, this kind of surprise approach would definitely cause a disaster.
Sure enough, the result was disastrous.
Several people spent money to rent the practice room, but in the end, they just played the piano accompaniment demo of the song “Wanting to Become Human” once inside.
The lead vocalist couldn’t sing out loud even once, and the ensemble between the members could not proceed because of this.
In the cold and stern atmosphere, everyone silently walked out of the practice room and returned to the café.
The result of wasting time in vain made Shiina Taki, who had finally made up her mind to join the band and was eager to start practicing to prove herself, feel anxious.
She couldn’t help questioning Sakiko:
“The lead vocalist is the face of the band, so why choose Tomori?”
“Uuu…”
Takamatsu Tomori was obviously frightened by her somewhat fierce attitude, let out a small whimper, and shrank behind Ayanokoji.
Feeling the trembling coming from the petite body behind him, and the action of gently tugging at his hem to gain a sense of security, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka sighed in his heart.
Sure enough, this kind of thing would happen.
Half-blocking Takamatsu Tomori behind him, his unruffled eyes met Taki’s purple pupils that were trying hard to suppress her anger.
“Shiina, this matter cannot be blamed on Tomori.”
“Today is everyone’s first step into the practice room, and the coordination has just begun. Whether it’s Tomori’s state or the lack of prior communication… As the manager, not confirming everyone’s psychological expectations in advance and coordinating well is my dereliction of duty.”
Actively taking over Togawa Sakiko’s responsibility, getting her out of a tight spot, and demonstrating the responsibility of a manager, Ayanokoji stared at Taki’s flickering gaze:
“If it’s just one-sided emotional venting, the meaning of forming a band is lost.”
“So, I hope you can give our lead vocalist and this team a little more patience, okay?”