After the heavy rain stopped, the group decided to head to STARRY to check on the situation.
As soon as they entered, everyone felt the gravity increase exponentially.
"Although it just rained and it's break time with no customers, it wasn't usually this deserted…" The overly heavy atmosphere gave Yamada Ryo an inexplicably bad premonition. She subconsciously looked for that warm, reassuring little sun. "Where's Nijika? Where's the manager?"
Bocchi-chan tugged at her clothes and pointed toward the bar counter, stammering: "Ah, um, Nijika-chan and Kita-chan seem to be crying…"
Following Bocchi-chan's finger, they saw Nijika tearfully lying in Ijichi Seika's arms, with the manager gently patting her back like soothing a baby.
On the other side, Kita Ikuyo was lying curled up on the sofa with her arms crossed, shrinking into herself without a sense of security. Pa-san was still poking her cheek repeatedly.
As they got closer, they heard:
"Kessoku Band really has become the ending band, hehe…"
Kitagawa Marin gently tugged at Ryo's clothes and whispered in her ear: "Hey, Ryo-san, are you sure we can win?"
"Win my ass."
This was Yamada Ryo's declaration of defeat after observing the miserable state of Ijichi Nijika and Kita Ikuyo.
Then, Ryo walked over to Ijichi Seika with small steps, covered her mouth, and carefully asked: "Manager, what happened to Nijika and Kita?"
Hearing Ryo's voice, Ijichi Seika barely lifted her eyes to glance at her and let out a straightforward sigh. "Sigh…"
"Manager?"
"The thing is, you all went to the meeting today, right…"
The person sitting on the bar counter who had witnessed everything began recounting it all in detail.
...
Two hours earlier at STARRY…
"Dio looks strange?"
Ijichi Nijika crossed her arms, replying with some surprise.
Opposite Nijika were two other people: Kita Ikuyo and Bocchi-chan.
"What happened to teacher?"
"Yes…" Bocchi-chan nodded and continued, "Marin-san told me that Dio's eyes have been vacant and lifeless these past few days, without any vitality. Although we can still contact him, chatting with him often ends after just a few sentences."
"Isn't that basically what Dio is like normally?" Ijichi Nijika blinked, somewhat unconcerned, and even pulled up chat logs on her phone as an example. "Look, ever since I first met him, he's never chatted with me for more than half an hour."
"No way?! Isn't teacher a chatterbox?!"
Kita Ikuyo couldn't believe it.
Hearing this, Bocchi-chan seemed to remember something and continued: "Ah, also, Dio hasn't been grooming himself lately. His hair even has flyaways."
The always vain Dio actually became decadent?!
"That's a bit bad…" Sweat appeared on Nijika's forehead, her mouth agape in shock. Realizing the severity, she began thinking carefully. "Why would he become so strange?"
"Maybe he hasn't gone out for too long?" Kita Ikuyo raised one finger. "Look, teacher was cooped up at home the past few days, right? Maybe he got in a bad mood from being too bored…"
"No way, if Dio gets bored he'll go out and find fun himself." Ijichi Nijika denied this possibility, then turned to Bocchi-chan and asked, "What do you think, Bocchi-chan?"
Bocchi-chan looked troubled and shook her head: "I… don't know."
"Oh, right, Takanashi-san invited us today to discuss what exactly happened to Dio. Here's the address." Bocchi-chan took out an envelope from her pocket, with drawings of dragons, flames, and sword-wielding angels on a dark background.
"Hmm, this kind of thing still needs to be asked to the person involved to be clear." The Pringles horn on Nijika's head twitched. She reached a conclusion and, while messaging Diego, said, "Bocchi-chan, I'm not going. I'm going to ask Dio out and get to the bottom of this. Music doesn't lie!"
Chat content on the phone:
Nijika: Hey, Dio, come to STARRY to play guitar today. Kita says there are some things she doesn't understand and wants to ask you.
Diego: Guitar?… Fine, I happen to have something to say to you guys too.
Nijika: Then it's settled!
"Hmm… I've decided too! I'll stay at STARRY to help." Kita Ikuyo also made her judgment. "Bocchi-chan, please thank Takanashi-san for the invitation for me."
"Eh?"
"Well, I'm still a bit worried about teacher being alone with Ijichi-senpai." Kita Ikuyo pressed one finger to her cheek, the corners of her mouth slightly upturned. "Speaking of which, Bocchi-chan, when was that invitation?"
"Ah, let me see…"
Bocchi-chan opened the envelope and carefully read the contents inside.
In an instant, her face turned deathly pale. Although she didn't understand what all those chuunibyou terms meant, if she didn't go now she'd miss the time written on the letter.
As the ultimate social anxiety sufferer, she couldn't refuse someone's invitation, nor could she be late. In the past she always left an hour early.
"Not good not good not good, I'm going to be late!!!"
Bocchi-chan left STARRY in a panic without choosing her path.
Pitter patter…
Not long after, the sound of rain suddenly came from outside. Kita Ikuyo looked toward the door with a worried face: "Will Bocchi-chan be okay alone?"
"She should be fine, right? It's not like she'll get hijacked by the baker uncle halfway there, right?" Nijika said in a joking tone.
Hearing this, Kita Ikuyo relaxed a lot and laughed: "Yeah, how could she be that unlucky."
(Bocchi-chan halfway there: Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Ah-choo! Weird, is someone thinking about me? Hehe...)
The waiting time wasn't very long.
While Ijichi Nijika was spacing out staring at the traffic light changing colors through the window, a faint sound of the door being pushed open rang out, like thunder in the quiet STARRY live house.
Nijika came back to her senses, her tone surprised: "Oh, he's here he's here!"
Kita Ikuyo quickly responded: "Yes! Ijichi-senpai, what did you call me for?"
(Kita's pronunciation sounded the same as "he's here")
"Uh, I meant Dio is here…"
"Ahaha… teacher, you finally came!"
Kita's face turned red, and she directly—Kita (left)!
When the live house door was fully pushed open, Kita Ikuyo also froze in place, then started looking for a dry towel.
At the door, Diego was soaked through. He took off his hat and held it in his hand, water droplets still hanging from his hair strands.
That blue-green shirt was tightly clinging to his sturdy, well-defined muscular body. The whole person looked like a drenched cat—exhausted and pitiful.
Ijichi Nijika brought a dry towel and handed it to Diego, asking with concern: "Ah, wait, why are you so wet? Didn't you have an umbrella?"
Diego stood dazed at the doorway for a while, his gaze fixed on the interior of STARRY the whole time.
After a long moment, he simply said "thanks," took the towel from Nijika, and dried his hair.
"The manager said there are staff uniforms you can change into." Kita Ikuyo brought over a set of clothes and gestured for Diego to put them on.
Diego shook his head. Heat began emanating from his body (little fire sprite), a burst of white mist dispersed, and in an instant his clothes were dried.
"Woah, what is this, magic?" Nijika asked with great interest.
"Let's talk inside. I just got back from Canaveral Cape." Diego finally spoke. "I came today because I have something to say. I think it should be said in person; texting isn't appropriate."
"Back from abroad?!"
"Let's talk at the bar counter."
The three sat down at seats by the bar counter.
As soon as he sat down, Diego skillfully walked behind the bar counter, squatted down, rummaged around, and muttered:
"What good stuff is hidden today? Found it, it's an apple. Not bad!"
The corners of Diego's mouth curled slightly. He took out an apple from inside, wiped it with his hand, and took a big bite.
Kita Ikuyo couldn't help but ask: "Um, teacher, what was the thing you wanted to say?"
"I've decided to quit Kessoku Band. You don't need to call me for any future band activities." Diego took another bite of the apple, putting on a playful smile. "Look, you guys have already gotten on the right track. This nominal manager of yours only comes over to steal snacks from the bar counter every time, rarely handles band affairs, and is just part of the atmosphere group. He has no reason to exist at all…"
He's lying, right…
Teacher is leaving the band?
Here, right now?
Diego's subsequent words, Kita Ikuyo gradually couldn't hear clearly. Her mind was a mess; she couldn't even think.
"Wait… wait a minute! Why so suddenly?!" At this moment, Nijika stood up and loudly interrupted Diego. "This is way too strange, right? Weren't you really happy at the celebration banquet not long ago?!"
"Yeah, I was pretty happy."
"Then why…"
"But no matter how happy something is, it can't last forever, right? With all due respect, Nijika." Diego tidied his hair and slowly said, "You all seem to often forget that I'm an otherworlder, someone who stowed away here. Sooner or later I'll return. Now I'm just bringing the contradictions hidden in the shadows out into the open."
"This has nothing to do with you guys. It's me, Dio, who remembered—I want to go back. I still have unfinished business."
With that, Diego swallowed the entire apple and peeled an orange, offering it to Nijika: "Don't think too much. Have an orange to relax."
It shouldn't be like this. Dio before clearly…
"Right! Apple!" Nijika bit her lip then released it, like a drowning person grabbing a lifeline. "Dio, didn't you say you really like eating apples with the skin on? I can prepare a lot for you, you…"
"That was fake."
Diego calmly interrupted Ijichi Nijika's words, a trace of irritation flashing in his eyes.
"Then the happy memories between us…"
"Also fake. I never felt happy playing in a band. I was just using this thing to kill time." Diego frowned, his voice forceful and clear. "Nijika, you should know best. Back then when I joined Kessoku Band, it was only because I was unfamiliar with the place and wanted to find somewhere to understand this world."
"But teacher, it was clearly you who encouraged me to join the band back then!" Kita Ikuyo shouted in confusion.
Diego replied impatiently: "Speaking of which, stop calling me teacher. Your teacher is Bocchi."
Even Ijichi Nijika, reputed as the Shimokitazawa Angel, was almost unable to hold on. Her consciousness gradually became hazy. She looked around and her gaze fixed on the guitar in the corner.
Guitar…
Right! Music!
Music doesn't lie! As long as she lets Dio play guitar one more time, she'll know if what he said is true or false. This must be angry words he said because he's in a bad mood!
Thinking this, Nijika brought the guitar over, patted Diego on the shoulder, forced a smile, and said with a trembling voice: "Hey, play guitar one last time."
Diego paused, took the guitar, touched his fingers to the strings, maintaining an attitude of half-concealing like playing a pipa. He touched it once then let go.
Finally, he closed his eyes and sighed.
"Sorry, I can't play guitar."
"Eh?"
"Before, I was only using dynamic vision to memorize Bocchi's guitar playing movements, breathing frequency, and fingertip tremors, then replicated them one-to-one. In the end, I never actually learned guitar at all."
Boom!!!
Thunder happened to rumble outside.
Can't play guitar… Can't hear the inner voice through music, can't tell truth from lies at all…
"I… I want to go home, where's my sister…" The little sun Nijika went out. Tears welled up in her eyes as she cried.
"But it was clearly teacher who brought us together.."
The stubborn Kita Ikuyo was making one last effort.
"So I came to end Kessoku Band."
Diego killed the match.
Kessoku Band, ending band…
...
"…And then Nijika ran over and hugged me crying non-stop. Little Kita was also struck senseless."
Speaking of this, Ijichi Seika complained again, "Really, even if you're in a bad mood you shouldn't say such heavy words, you stinky little brat! My little sister was worried about him!"
After scolding, she still felt it wasn't enough to vent. She took a small blackboard from the bar counter, wrote "Diego Brando and dogs not allowed inside," and hung it at the entrance of STARRY. Only then did she feel a bit better.
It was also at this moment that Bocchi-chan carefully patted the curled-up Kita Ikuyo's back, pulling her back from her daze to reality.
Kita Ikuyo's body trembled. She reached out and grabbed Bocchi-chan.
"Teacher said… he's going back to his original world…"
"This is my… last piece of intel…"
To be continued...