"(´｀;) ? What was that sound?"
[Don't worry about it. So what exactly are you all gathered here for? And what do you need me for?]
Saiki didn't choose to fight fate. He accepted it readily and went straight to the point—the sooner this was over, the better.
"Oh, this…"
Kita Ikuyo jumped in front of Saiki, holding up one finger and twirling it. "Saiki-kun, guess! Why are the four of us wandering around this park with a camera? Guess, come on, guess guess guess…"
Saiki stared expressionlessly at the girl in front of him, whose smile was like sunshine bursting forth.
"Guess, come on, guess…"
(Why not just say it directly? What's there to guess?)
"Guess, come on, guess…"
(This is such a hassle.)
"Guess, come on, guess…"
It felt like four tiny versions of Kita Ikuyo with wings had appeared next to his head, waving magic wands and circling his brain while endlessly repeating those four words.
"Guess, come on, guess, guess guess…"
(Yare yare, I really am no good at dealing with this type of super extroverted social expert.)
Saiki felt his head throb. From the past until now, no matter where he went, he'd always run into tons of these hyper-social types, but he was terrible at getting along with them. Was it incompatibility or what…
After glancing at Kita Ikuyo, who was still going "guess, guess" right in front of him, Saiki cut straight through with one sentence.
[You're looking for a location to take band promotional photos, right?]
"So amazing!!"
[So I got it right?]
"Yeah! Saiki-kun, you're seriously incredible. How'd you guess so accurately? Since you're so good at guessing, want to try guessing my birthday?"
[No thanks.] — Absolutely not.
(Please, someone come take her away.)
"Oof."
Ijichi Nijika stepped forward as if she'd heard Saiki's silent plea, pulling Kita Ikuyo back so she couldn't keep guessing. She turned directly to Saiki and said,
"That's right. We're here to pick a spot for our band's promotional photos. We've pretty much decided already, and we were hoping you could help us take them. Is that okay?"
[So just say that from the start.]
"Then thanks a bunch!"
Ijichi Nijika moved efficiently, quickly handing the camera to Saiki and thoughtfully explaining,
"See? This is the shutter button, this is delete, these are your photos—don't hit delete by accident. You know how to take photos, right?"
[Yeah, don't worry. I can handle it.]
Saiki looked at Ijichi Nijika in front of him. The more he looked, the more he liked her.
Right, this was the "like" from appreciating someone easy to get along with—not that kind of umm ahh… you know.
(Dealing with this type really is the simplest.)
Although Ijichi Nijika and Kita Ikuyo seemed similar on the surface—both the type surrounded by tons of people—once you actually spent time with them, they were completely different.
Kita Ikuyo was a cheerful social butterfly whose sunny smile naturally drew in lots of friends.
Ijichi Nijika was just someone with high emotional intelligence who was good at reading situations, so she had strong affinity. Whether one-on-one or helping others out of awkward spots, she did it a lot, but people like her still ended up with tons of friends anyway.
Saiki suddenly thought of Shiraishi, who could make everything around him disappear and turn things peaceful.
…
[Okay, so where should we shoot?]
"Don't rush, we'll head over soon. Anyway, thanks first! Let me treat you to a drink!"
Ijichi Nijika went to the vending machine and pointed at the many options.
"So what do you all want? My treat today."
Gotoh Hitori: "N… No need, I'll buy my own."
"It's fine! Bocchi-chan, what do you want?"
"Th… Then a cola, I guess."
…
Saiki walked behind Gotoh Hitori and whispered softly,
[Gotoh, you've prepared the lyrics, right? Have you shown them to the others yet?]
∑（〃〇〇〃）
Gotoh Hitori, startled, stammered,
"I… I…"
[Never mind, you don't have to say it. I get it.]
"I still haven't dared to say it. I made up my mind today and brought them thinking they'd review them, but I didn't expect it to be photos, so I decided to wait until Ku… until the lyrics are finished before showing them."
(Just procrastinating again…)
…
Saiki took a sip of barley tea and casually said,
[But since you're all out taking photos together, did you bring instruments? Taking them with instruments should look better, right?]
"Didn't bring any."
"Forgot."
"You think photos with instruments look cooler, huh."
Ijichi Nijika paused for a moment and said, "The only ones who look good with instruments are the guitarist and bassist. The drummer ends up looking pitiful."
In Ijichi Nijika's mind appeared images of people holding instruments looking super cool, while she just stood in the middle holding up two drumsticks—one left, one right—looking utterly miserable.
[Then just put a small snare drum there.]
"It'd be a bit better, but it still wouldn't feel cool."
Yamada Ryo said expressionlessly, "It'd actually look cute, though."
(σ≧▽≦)σ "Then let's swap instruments for a day!"
ㄟ(▔,▔)ㄏ "That looks awful. No way."
...
In the end, they came to a wall with a lot of character. Hmm.
What to call it "with character"? The wall had a big tree graffiti as the background, adding quite a bit of flair.
"Come on, come on, get ready."
Saiki raised the camera.
[3~2~1~ Cheese!]
"Click."
"How is it? How is it?"
Ijichi Nijika couldn't wait to see the result. Saiki opened the camera and handed it over.
Ijichi Nijika smiled, hooking her arm around Yamada Ryo, who had her hands in her pockets and an emotionless gaze. Kita Ikuyo stood smiling beside her, while at the very edge was Gotoh Hitori with her head lowered.
Group photo →
"…"
Ijichi Nijika looked and looked, then finally said one thing: "The members' personalities are definitely coming through, but there's no real band vibe."
(Is that it? Yeah, there's really no band vibe. As for personality, Gotoh is standing way too far to the edge, though that does suit her personality…)
"It'd be best to add some band-style elements."
Yamada Ryo: "Then…"
…