[Yare yare daze.]
Saiki walked forward and looked at Gotou Hitori, who was hiding behind a combustible trash bin, and persuaded her, [Alright, Gotou, come out already! If you stand inside the combustible trash bin like that, people won't be able to sort the garbage properly.]
Ijichi Nijika: [That's not the point at all!]
"Oh!"
Gotou Hitori obediently stepped out after hearing Saiki's words, walked in front of him, and lowered her head.
Ijichi Nijika: [Well, that works too.]
"Sorry, Saiki."
[Why are you apologizing to me?]
Gotou Hitori: "This was supposed to be your spot originally, but it turned into me getting recommended by you, and then I didn't do well and embarrassed you... I'm really sorry..."
[I don't think I ever said I was going to do it. It's fine if you really don't want to come, I wouldn't force you. But I know it'd be good for you to join a band at least once...]
Ijichi Nijika: "Yeah, exactly. Hitori-chan, let's work hard together."
Gotou Hitori: "But even for warming up the crowd, I don't think I'd be of any use."
Yamada Ryo patted her chest and declared: "It's fine. If anyone dares to heckle us, I'll just hit them with my bass—BOOM!"
Gotou Hitori: "Ba... bass can make that kind of sound?"
(That probably isn't possible!)
Yamada Ryo put her hands on her hips: "It's rock 'n' roll!"
"Even rock 'n' roll isn't all-powerful, you know?"
(Well, whatever. It's a novel, anything's possible anyway.)
Ijichi Nijika clenched her fist: "And the people coming to watch our band are probably just my friends anyway."
Yamada Ryo: "I only have one friend, and that's Nijika."
Ijichi Nijika spread her hands to comfort her: "See? Normal high school girls can't even tell whether the performance is good or bad anyway, right?"
(That line is going to offend way too many people.)
Gotou Hitori: [If that gets out, she'll probably get flamed to death.]
Yamada Ryo: "I can tell, though."
"You're not a normal high school girl."
Yamada Ryo ꉂ(ˊᗜˋ*): "Hehe."
Ijichi Nijika: "Hey, what are you so happy about? What are you happy for?"
(That wasn't a compliment—hey!!)
Saiki looked at Gotou Hitori.
[So, what have you decided? Gotou.]
"This..."
[If it's too much for you, then forget it. I shouldn't have recommended you. Let's just head back...]
Ijichi Nijika quietly watched Gotou Hitori too: "Is that so? Was it too much for you...?"
Gotou Hitori immediately stood up, grabbed Saiki's hand as he was about to leave, and answered: "No, Saiki. It's not too much. I'm really happy that you recommended me."
(Oh, she's hooked.)
Gotou Hitori bowed to Ijichi Nijika in thanks: "Thank you too, Nijika. I've wanted to form a band with someone for so long... but I could never find anyone. I usually just do covers of other people's songs and upload them online."
Yamada Ryo: "What kind of songs do you usually cover?"
Gotou Hitori: "Ah, well, to get ready for the band right away, I can play pretty much all the popular songs from the last few years..."
(See? That's one of the good points.)
Ijichi Nijika: "That's amazing!"
Gotou Hitori hid behind Saiki: "No, it's really not... In the end, everything I play ends up a mess. I really can't form a band with other people."
[It's fine. Even really skilled guitarists might have been practicing alone for a long time without anyone knowing, right? Gotou...]
"Saiki..."
Ijichi Nijika: "What Kusuo-kun said is right. Like that Guitar Hero person on the internet who plays tons of popular songs—they're probably the same way, right, Ryo?"
Gotou Hitori quietly perked up her ears when she heard others talking about her [They're talking about me].
"That person's playing is seriously good."
Gotou Hitori ( ´▽` )
(Gotou, your mouth—watch your mouth.)
Yamada Ryo: "That Guitar Hero? I've seen them too."
"Right? Though the name is kind of embarrassing."
Gotou Hitori: [Embarrassing?]
(Okay, yeah, it is kind of embarrassing.)
"I really hope we can play together someday."
(You just did play together.)
"Anyway, what I'm trying to say is the same as what Kusuo-kun said. Just don't give up..."
Gotou Hitori recalled how hard she'd worked these past few years, yet almost no one paid attention except Saiki.
"Even if it doesn't work out today, there's no rush to form a band. Maybe we're the ones being a bit pushy..."
Ijichi Nijika already wanted to form a band with Gotou Hitori, but if the other party was still a little resistant right now, they could wait a bit longer.
Gotou Hitori: "Um... that..."
Gotou Hitori slowly straightened her back and stepped out from behind Saiki. She looked at the others [Now there are actually this many kind people paying attention to me. How could I possibly let go of such a rare opportunity?]
"Oh, she stood up."
(Yare yare daze, so she finally grew a little?)
Gotou Hitori gritted her teeth and opened her mouth. "Um... that, I..."
Ijichi Nijika excitedly looked at Gotou Hitori, thinking she was about to agree to perform, and quickly asked: "What's up? Are you going to agree to perform? Hitori-chan..."
Gotou Hitori, who had just mustered up her courage and confidence, shrank back again upon hearing and facing Ijichi Nijika, slowly sliding behind Saiki once more.
(I thought she had grown?)
Gotou Hitori still couldn't face other people's gazes and hid behind Saiki [I know in my heart, but I'm still so scared of the audience's stares. I can't handle it.]
(Yeah, that's how it is. People don't grow in every part at once. For Gotou to get this far is already pretty good. Asking someone with extreme social anxiety to perform in front of a big crowd without messing up is already impressive. Gotta think of other ways.)
(Still need to train her ability to interact with people, huh...)
Yamada Ryo looked at the still-frightened, trembling Gotou Hitori and pulled a cardboard box out from who-knows-where: "If you're scared, why not just perform inside this?"
"Huh? Can you really perform properly like that?"
Ijichi Nijika looked at the cardboard box in disbelief. Wouldn't being inside a box make it even harder to perform?
Gotou Hitori didn't say anything, just calmly stared at the cardboard box, thinking about something.
Yamada Ryo looked at Saiki and asked: "What do you think?"
Saiki glanced at the cardboard box for 0.1 seconds and gave a thumbs-up in approval.
[Works! Great idea.]
"Eh, is that really okay, Kusuo-kun?"
Saiki explained:
[It's fine. Weird people have weird tricks, and those weird tricks usually work best in the most urgent situations.]
"Hehe ( ˝ᗢ̈˝ )"
Yamada Ryo unconsciously grinned when she heard Saiki praising her.
Ijichi Nijika looked at Yamada Ryo: "Um, I don't think he was praising you."
Two minutes later... Gotou Hitori had climbed completely inside the box.
Ijichi Nijika called from outside: "Hitori-chan, how does it feel?!"
A voice came from inside the box: "This is just like the environment I usually play in. It feels really reassuring."
Ijichi Nijika looked at Saiki and asked: "What kind of place does she usually live in?"
[Just a normal civilian household.]
Ijichi Nijika: ...