"I… I'm sorry, I mostly spent my time alone at school…"
"It's hard to find a topic that makes people happy when chatting."
Bocchi lowered her head, shrinking her body, apologizing for her mood-killing words.
Nijika quickly comforted her.
"It's okay, it's okay. Ryo doesn't have many friends either."
Ryo nodded.
"Indeed, only Nijika."
After the cruel incident just now, Bocchi no longer dared to look at others with the expectation of finding a kindred spirit.
But she still looked at Ryo with a small glimmer of hope.
At the same time, she heard Nijika explain.
"On her days off, Ryo goes exploring ruins alone or browses second-hand shops."
Definitely not a kindred spirit!!
Ryo just liked being alone; she definitely didn't have social anxiety. Someone with social anxiety wouldn't dare go to a second-hand shop!
She almost fell into the trap again.
Bocchi lowered her head even more gloomily.
And Kita, who had almost become a murderer, still dared not speak.
Seeing the atmosphere gradually grow heavy, Hayato stood up.
"Nijika, can I roll for the next topic?"
"Eh, sure."
Nijika looked at Hayato, puzzled, then handed him the die.
Hayato walked to the seat opposite Nijika with a serious expression, and as the four girls gradually showed expressions of unease, he calmly said.
"Does everyone know about the dramatic theory of Chekhov's Gun?"
He held the die, spun it with one hand, and it rotated rapidly on his fingertip. He then flicked and pushed it a few times, and the die spun like a rapidly rotating sphere.
The six low-saturation colors of the die spun into a light, comfortable orange.
"It says, if in Act One you have a pistol hanging on the wall…"
Not good, not good, not good!
Bocchi's sense of danger was constantly emitting piercing warnings.
But no one could stop him; they all stared blankly at the stern and serious Hayato.
"Then in Act Three…"
Hayato turned around, presenting his back to the four of them. Though the young man's back wasn't broad, it felt inexplicably reliable.
He then tapped the die with his finger.
The die flew up, landed steadily on the table, and continued to spin.
"It must be fired."
The four people's gazes shifted from the show-off Hayato to the die.
As if everything had been calculated, when his words stopped, the die also slowed down.
Like the most obedient little baby.
The die spun, slowed, and stopped, all at that one point.
After the cardboard collided with the tabletop, and a soft 'thump' echoed from within the die.
The four looked at the upward face of the die and collectively swallowed.
The words written there were.
Bungee jumping.
Ryo glanced at Hayato, who hadn't turned around, and cautiously reached out to change the result.
Hayato, still with his back to everyone, said.
"Ryo, you moved, didn't you?"
"No."
Ryo's tone was flat, and as she stared at Hayato, who hadn't turned, she sped up her hand and quickly flicked the die.
But Hayato, like a phantom, flashed over instantly, grabbed Ryo's outstretched hand, and then smiled at the four, saying.
"How about we all go bungee jumping?"
In the eyes of the four, that smile was like the sinister grin of an Asura. They quickly spoke up.
Kita, "Absolutely not!"
Bocchi, "No, no… no way."
Ryo, "Not going."
Nijika, "Let's just forget it."
Seeing the four people sitting at the same table, each speaking their own mind in such a situation, Hayato paused, then laughed.
Nijika also reacted a moment later, and she laughed awkwardly.
"There's absolutely no teamwork."
"Indeed…"
Kita also smiled awkwardly.
Ryo looked at them and quietly said.
"After all, it's Kessoku Band."
Hayato walked back to Bocchi's side, sat down on the chair again, and said with a happy and somewhat triumphant smile.
"Ryo means we should aim for that goal, right?"
"No."
Whether it was tsundere or simply because it wasn't true, Ryo's answer was very quick.
Seeing the atmosphere ease, Nijika had just let out a sigh of relief and was about to continue the conversation, but Hayato spoke first.
"Let's talk about our common goals; it'll help us get to know each other faster," he said to Nijika, who had been interrupted.
"Nijika, what's the Band's next task? Tell us."
"Eh…" Nijika sighed, hesitating.
Hayato knew why she was like this; after all, Kita's previous escape was partly because of her impatience.
At least, that's what she thought.
So now she planned to slow down, starting with getting to know each other, and moving forward steadily.
Being urged like this, Nijika looked at the others, thought for a moment, then nodded.
"Then next, let's write songs. For our next performance, we'll use our own songs."
"Ryo-senpai can compose, and Bocchi-chan has a lot of forbidden words, so let Bocchi-chan write the lyrics."
Hayato sighed inwardly. Nijika was too gentle; being too considerate of others would make it hard to progress.
However, it was also a happy accident, he thought.
He looked at Bocchi-chan, whose expression was surprised; she was looking down as if bracing herself.
"How about it? Is it a good idea?" Nijika asked her again, as if confirming.
Bocchi-chan nodded slightly.
Feeling that everything was starting to move forward and was no longer so dull, Kita eagerly said to Ryo-senpai,
"I'm really looking forward to Ryo-senpai's compositions!"
Ryo-senpai replied calmly in her deep, steady voice,
"Hmm, look forward to it."
"I'm counting on you, Ryo-senpai," Nijika said with a genuine, small smile, then looked at Bocchi-chan beside her.
She said in a light, cute tone, "And our Minister of Lyrics~"
Kita, who had almost dealt Bocchi-chan a fatal blow earlier, also congratulated Bocchi-chan.
"Gotou-san, it's really cool that you're in charge of such an important task."
"Cool?!" Bocchi-chan repeated in a surprised whisper, suddenly feeling giddy.
"Well, writing lyrics is a piece of cake, it couldn't be simpler."
"I'm sure I can write super popular lyrics with a real Band feel."
Kita said with a strained smile, "Gotou-san really gets carried away so easily…"
Ryo-senpai's gaze became a little colder, fixed on the drink cup filled with orange juice.
Seeing that everything was going smoothly for Bocchi-chan, Nijika felt much more relaxed. She thought for a moment.
"Anything else…"
Kita raised her hand without hesitation and said, "If we need to manage our Instagram, leave it to me!"
Nijika replied without much thought, "That's great! The duty of the Minister of Social Media is yours."
"When it's needed, I'll update it daily!" Kita hugged her phone, looking happy as if she had found her place.
Hayato also raised his hand at this time.
"If we need to move instruments later, or if there are conflicts and fights, leave it to me. Without firearms, I can take on thirty people."
"Then I'll leave it to… huh?" Nijika's words were cut short, suddenly stunned by Hayato's last remark.
"Oh~ Very reliable." Ryo-senpai seemed quite satisfied.
Anyone who had been in a Band knew the sense of security of having such a top-tier bodyguard.
"No, no, we're not that kind of rock Band!" Nijika hastily tried to stop Hayato, who was about to take the conversation off track again.
Kita, who had witnessed Hayato's strength, twitched the corner of her mouth speechlessly.
Ryo-senpai then looked at Nijika, who had been assigning tasks since the beginning but hadn't taken on any herself, and asked her,
"Nijika, what are you in charge of?"
As her words fell, the other four looked at Nijika.
Nijika also seemed bewildered, frozen.
Time in the room seemed to pause.
Then, Nijika, with a cute, innocent look, picked up the dice, gently threw it, and loudly announced the face it landed on.
"Next up is the topic of targets~"
The tsukkomi role escaped, and tsukkomi role number two, Ryo-senpai, appeared. She said, "Blatantly glossing over it…"
Hayato also said helplessly, "She's gone back to that again…"
Even Kita didn't know how to support Nijika; she and Bocchi-chan both stared blankly at Nijika.
Under the helpless gazes of everyone, Nijika blushed and shouted, "A dr-drummer is like the lubricant of a Band!"
"Are you an intern?" Ryo-senpai replied with a brilliant tsukkomi.