Early March.
It was once again the season when sakura bloomed.
Toru gazed at the cherry blossoms lining the street and thought about today's goal.
Accompanying the band to discuss how to gather votes.
"Online voting always has a lot of manipulation. Maybe we could just use hacker techniques to mess with people… forget it, there is no need to do something so unnecessary. Kessoku Band has the strength to earn the ticket on their own."
According to Nijika, they were participating in this music festival to hone their abilities. Their main objective was not to step onto the festival stage.
Although that was also a goal, the process was far more important than the result.
Otherwise, they would not be holding a strategy meeting today.
They could have simply had Bocchi-chan promote it with her Guitar Hero account, and the online voting numbers would skyrocket instantly. Bocchi-chan's followers had broken the 400,000 mark some time ago.
Hitori truly had the potential to become an internet celebrity, if not for her severe social anxiety.
After enjoying the cherry blossoms along the way.
Toru finally arrived at the entrance of Starry.
The Kessoku Band strategy meeting could only be held here. The new school term was about to begin, and today was also a study session. Toru had brought a huge pile of review materials, preparing to give them a cram-style lesson to prevent Hitori from failing.
In the band, the only one whose grades truly worried him was Bocchi-chan, who radiated a pure clarity untouched by knowledge.
"I, I asked Dad and Mom to help vote too, and Grandpa and Grandma as well."
As soon as he entered, Toru heard the voice of his budget girlfriend. Timid and soft, it made him think of white, fluffy mochi. This really was just mochi, with no other meaning.
What topic were his ex wives talking about?
"Everyone at school helped vote too. Kessoku Band is ranked near the top now, yay!" Kita raised her hand, full of energy.
"I put up posters at the entrance of the live house. Look, right over there… eh, Toru-kun, you're here!"
Nijika pointed toward the entrance while speaking, then noticed Toru.
These past few days, everyone had been distracted by the online voting, except for Toru, their manager. He was even more confident than the band members themselves, which left them puzzled.
"I did nothing at all, but I still worked hard."
Ryo-san nodded to herself.
Slack off while everyone else is working. As expected of me.
Today's Ryo was still striving to pursue individuality, aiming to become a weirdo.
"Isn't doing nothing a bit too much?" Nijika puffed out her cheeks, slightly dissatisfied.
Watching the girls interact, Toru smiled and walked over.
"Want me to help promote it?"
"No no." Nijika waved her hands quickly.
If you help, that would be a dimensionality strike.
Everyone here knows you have an account with a million followers online.
Speaking of which, is Toru-kun still doing acting work lately? It has been a long time since he appeared on TV.
"Of course I would not promote it myself. I have some connections in the industry. I could ask someone to handle it online…"
"There is no need to go that far." Nijika waved again.
Through street performances, they had already accumulated quite a few fans. Their Twitter and YouTube numbers were doing well.
Logically speaking, unless something unexpected happened, they would definitely pass the online voting stage.
"I was watching a livestream on YouTube yesterday and noticed a big name streamer recommending Kessoku Band."
Toru suddenly brought it up.
"A big name streamer?"
The one who asked was PA-san beside them. She had been addicted to watching drama lately.
Every day she came to work at the live house like she was following a TV series, stirring things up whenever she could, enjoying it immensely.
"Yeah, the kind with hundreds of thousands of followers."
"So many? What is their name? I want to check it out." Kita exclaimed.
That was already close to Hitori-chan's follower count.
"Otogi Alto, a streamer. Yesterday the concurrent viewers reached ten thousand, and there were lots of highlighted comments…"
Halfway through, Toru looked toward PA-san, who had been happily watching drama just moments ago and now wore a horrified expression.
"PA-san, what's wrong?"
"N-nothing."
PA-san lowered her head, trying to reduce everyone's attention this way.
In the streaming world, there is a weapon that is the most terrifying of all. It is called doxxing.
She never expected that one day, she would be the one to get doxxed.
Of course, as long as she did not admit it, the truth would not be exposed.
Otogi Alto was a high school JK. What did that have to do with a mature woman like her?
"Let me see… wow, it's actually a virtual streamer. What a pity, she streams shooter games, not really my kind of content." Kita quickly searched on YouTube, being a person of action.
A large number of videos popped up.
PA-san's expression became more and more dramatic.
No.
Getting doxxed, no, absolutely not. That would be social death.
If her friends found out she secretly worked as a virtual streamer, her career would be over, right?
"Kita-chan, this voice sounds kind of familiar."
Nijika leaned closer to Kita-chan, watching the video together and letting out a sigh.
It really sounded familiar.
"…It's kind of like PA-san, but also not quite."
"Ah, maybe they just have similar vocal tones. A signature Alto." PA-san said guiltily.
Thankfully, she used a business voice during streams, commonly known as a moe voice.
"Eh, PA-san, you can hear the video's sound from that far away?"
"I'm just guessing~ After all, 'alto' means female low voice."
"PA-san knows so much, even though she dropped out of high school."
Kita said with emotion.
"..." PA.
Sorry about dropping out of high school.
But I am still a sound engineer. Not knowing such a simple word would be strange, right?
PA-san felt like she had taken an arrow to the knee. It hurt a bit.
"Alright, let's end this topic here."
Toru looked deeply at PA-san.
He had already known her true identity yesterday.
He deliberately brought this up today to put some pressure on PA-san, so she would stop stirring things up and eating his drama at the live house every day.
You like watching drama, huh?
Then I will turn you into the drama. Let's see if you still enjoy it.
"The strategy meeting is over. Next… what should we do?"
Hitori looked at her boyfriend.
"I saw a super cute dessert shop nearby yesterday…"
Before Kita could finish, she saw Toru silently take out several thick stacks of test papers.
So many.
At this volume, people would die.
"Study session. No one is escaping. Ryo-chan, stop moving toward the door without saying a word."
Toru tapped the table with his finger.
"Oh."
Ryo put on a pitiful expression.
And abandoned her escape plan.