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Chapter 87 – Chaos Begins from This Small Interruption
🕑 Added 2025-08-15 16:02:06 +0000 UTCTogether, they ended up spending over 3,000 yen, yet all they managed to win were two identical-looking cat plushies in different colors.
They didn’t dwell on the disappointing return from such a costly and unsatisfying game.
With the awkwardness between them somewhat eased, though still lingering, they continued wandering through the mall for a while.
Around 11:30 a.m., they had lunch at a fancy-looking restaurant whose dishes, unfortunately, weren’t nearly as good as they appeared.
Although Aoki still hadn’t figured out the real reason why Nijika had invited him out—he even began to suspect she only wanted him to start calling her by name.
And had used the “moving the e-drum” excuse as a roundabout way to make it happen—either way...
After lunch and sorting out the name-calling issue, Aoki decided not to overthink it anymore.
After a brief discussion, the two decided to return to the livehouse early.
Although the group rehearsal wasn’t scheduled until 2:00 p.m., getting there ahead of time wasn’t a problem—especially since Nijika still lacked confidence in her skills and had been dedicating all her spare time to practice lately.
With the mindset of “the earlier, the better,” they took the train and arrived at the livehouse around noon.
Even on lazy days, Seika, the manager of STARRY, would always show up around noon at the latest.
And today, she had made a point to wake up early.
So, unsurprisingly, even without needing to go upstairs for the keys, the two were able to push open the front door that still bearing the “Closed” sign and walk right in.
The chime of the door wasn’t exactly quiet.
Sitting behind the bar, in front of her laptop, Ijichi Seika noticed them immediately.
She looked up from her screen and toward the door.
Upon seeing that it was Nijika and Aoki, her gaze quickly shifted to the identical cat plushies in their hands.
She silently observed for a few seconds, blinking thoughtfully.
Then, just as Aoki said, “Good afternoon, Manager Ijichi,” she calmly turned her eyes back to her laptop.
A few moments of quiet passed before she replied, curiosity creeping into her voice.
“Good afternoon. Actually, perfect timing, Aoki-san. I noticed one of the ambient lights is out. We’ve got replacements in the storage room, but I placed them a little too high up when organizing. Mind giving me a hand?”
It was only half true.
The light really was broken, but Seika had noticed the issue earlier that morning.
So technically, Aoki’s timing wasn’t all that perfect.
But that detail wasn’t important.
After greeting her and hearing the request, Aoki thought for a second.
He vaguely remembered the location of the spare lights—somewhere on the third shelf.
The manager might not be able to reach them, but it shouldn’t be a problem for him.
He nodded with an “Oh,” placed his light-gray plush cat on the counter, and headed toward the storage room without hesitation.
Meanwhile, Nijika, unaware of her older sister’s intentions, also left the front area.
After briefly greeting Seika, she took her white plushie and made her way toward the recording studio to get in some practice on the drums.
“Wait a second, Nijika,” Seika called out before she got too far.
Nijika stopped and looked back, a puzzled expression on her face.
Seika, eyes still fixed on her laptop as if finishing up some work, didn’t respond right away.
After typing a few more lines, she paused and turned to look at her sister.
Raising an eyebrow, she gave Nijika a curious once-over, finally landing her gaze on the plushie in her sister’s arms.
“Looks like things went well, huh?”
Nijika froze, realizing what her sister meant—she was clearly referring to the “date.”
“N-No...!” she replied quickly, flustered, denying it on instinct.
Seika didn’t push it.
She smiled slightly, then smoothly changed the topic.
“So, how’d it go with the name thing? Any progress?”
“Ah… yeah, there was,” Nijika mumbled, glancing aside.
“Oh? Did you use the suggestion I gave you?” Seika’s interest visibly perked up.
“No, no... that’s not it,” Nijika stammered. “It’s just… Aoki-senpai asked me, and I got so nervous I just blurted out that I wanted him to call me by my name… A-Anyway! It doesn’t matter! I-I’m going to practice now!”
She explained in a halting voice, clearly flustered.
And before her sister could tease her further, Nijika hurried off to the studio, blushing furiously and clutching her plush cat like a shield.
Seika just gave her a knowing “Ohh~” look as she scampered away.
———————————————————————
The ambient light wasn’t in an obvious spot.
Even though Aoki had a pretty clear memory of where it was, it still took him some time to find and retrieve it from the storage room.
After grabbing the replacement, he took a moment to switch out the broken one, then finally headed over to the recording studio.
He practiced on the electric piano for a bit, and based on his understanding of Uchiage Hanabi, gave Nijika some light guidance.
They kept this up until around 2:00 p.m., when the rest of Kessoku Band began arriving one by one.
After some brief small talk in the lobby, everyone—wanting to make the most of their time and gathered promptly in the studio and got straight to work.
The band had only been practicing Uchiage Hanabi for less than a week, and given the current skill levels of the members (excluding Aoki), pulling off a flawless group performance was still out of reach.
So even during ensemble practice, with Aoki’s piano to support them, the training had to be done piece by piece.
Aside from a small interruption and Kita seeming oddly off her game for some unknown reason, the rehearsal went smoothly.
By around 4:30 p.m., after running through a full version of the song, the group had just started to take a short break when—
The door to the recording studio suddenly opened.
Seika poked her head in.
She scanned the room, checking that no one was actively playing, then looked straight at the slightly confused Aoki.
“One of the scheduled bands for this afternoon’s live canceled,” she said directly. “There’s an open slot. Want to take it?”
Aoki blinked in surprise but quickly caught on.
A live performance—even an impromptu one—would be a great learning experience for Kessoku Band.
Getting occasional stage time could be even more beneficial than endless hours of private practice.
And since this was a last-minute fill-in, the lack of promotion might actually relieve some pressure.
It was an opportunity that could sharpen the band’s on-the-spot adaptability—virtually all upside and hardly any downside.
Weighing the pros and cons in his mind, Aoki turned toward the rest of the group, ready to ask for their thoughts.
But before he could say a word—
Kita suddenly spoke up, cutting him off.
Her voice was soft and slightly hesitant.
“U-Um… Manager Seika, Aoki-senpai… I don’t think I can do it today…”
