Back in the practice room.
As everyone stared at him, their faces full of question marks, Fumiya Jin borrowed the guitar from Hitori Gotoh, held it in his arms, and picked up a plectrum.
What should I play?
Fumiya Jin thought for a moment.
An answer quickly came to mind.
And so...
He began to play.
"Hiss—"
But after just two seconds of playing, the music stopped.
He lifted his left hand in surprise.
He saw that the pad of his index finger was already broken, and a tiny amount of red blood was slowly seeping out.
Seeing this, Nijika immediately rushed over, took his hand, and looked at it with a pained expression. She shot Fumiya Jin a slightly reproachful glance. "If you don't know how, then you don't know how. Why push yourself so hard? Wait, I'll go get you a band-aid."
Fumiya Jin had already realized the problem—his fingers were too soft compared to a guitarist who had practiced regularly. A single slide on the thinnest 1st string had been enough to break the skin.
"Nijika, is there anything like a finger cot in the performance hall?"
"Huh?" Nijika paused. "I kind of remember something like that. We might find one in the storage room. But... that's something for beginners. You're not planning to force yourself to play with one of those on, are you? Maybe you should just forget it."
"Trust me. Go get it for me," Fumiya Jin said, looking at her earnestly.
"Uh..." Nijika said with a sense of helplessness. "Fine... honestly, do you always have to be so stubborn?"
But then she turned her head and thought about who he was being so stubborn for... and felt a little touched.
About three minutes later, Nijika returned with a band-aid and a finger cot.
Fumiya Jin looked at the cut; it was too small, so he declined the band-aid for now and put the finger cot on directly.
Then... he began to play...
"Eh?"
A continuous and rapid stream of guitar music suddenly filled the air.
Everyone was startled.
Even Ryo Yamada, who was usually the most expressionless, widened her eyes slightly.
Standing beside Fumiya Jin, Nijika listened to the sound, watched his skillfully moving hands, the perfect strumming and syncopated rhythm... and was completely stunned.
"No way... you... you actually know how to play?"
[+1]
[+1]
[+1]
[+1]
...
Meanwhile, Hitori Gotoh, standing on the other side, felt an incredible sense of... familiarity as she watched Fumiya Jin's movements.
...
...
7:15.
In the performance hall's main room.
While not packed, a dozen or so customers were waiting for the show to begin.
Among them were six girls in Shimokitazawa High School uniforms, gathered together—they were Nijika's classmates, invited by her to watch the performance.
"Hasn't it started yet?"
"It should be soon. I wonder how Nijika-chan's band will do."
"Don't expect too much. New bands are usually a mess. It'll be good enough if they can just finish the song properly."
"Yeah, no matter how they do, we have to cheer for Nijika-chan. We're here to support her, after all."
"True."
Just then, two more beautiful girls in school uniforms walked in through the entrance, but they weren't from Shimokitazawa High School; they were from Shuchiin Academy.
One had short pink hair tied in pigtails.
The other had long white hair with a signature black and white floral ribbon.
"It's so dark... this feels weird. Is it really okay to come to a place like this?" Kei Shirogane, clearly a first-timer, looked at the surroundings with some concern.
"Relax, this is a live house, not some shady bar," Moeha Fujiwara said, patting Kei Shirogane's shoulder. She pushed her to buy a ticket and enter the hall. "It's a place to watch bands perform. Most of them are student bands anyway, what's there to be afraid of?"
"But why did we have to come to a place like this..."
"Because Kei-chan has been looking heartbroken all day," Moeha Fujiwara said with a pout. "Normal entertainment probably wouldn't cheer you up, so I figured we'd try some loud rock music."
"Who's heartbroken!?" Kei Shirogane immediately denied it. "I... I'm not dating anyone, so how could I be... heartbroken?"
"Stop trying to fool me. Don't I know you?" Moeha Fujiwara glanced at her. "It's because that handsome guy next door got a girlfriend, isn't it?"
Kei Shirogane stiffened slightly.
"Wh-What does that have to do with me? Even if Mr. Fumiya has a girlfriend, it's none of my business. Why would I..."
Moeha Fujiwara raised a hand and pinched her best friend's cheek. "Could you please wipe that devastated look off your face before you try to act tough? It's written all over you!"
"Uh..." Kei Shirogane fell silent.
"Anyway, stop thinking about it for now and just watch the show," Moeha Fujiwara said, gently patting Kei Shirogane's back. "If you get into a live performance, it's easy to forget all your troubles. Give it a try."
Just then, the lights on the stage came on.
"Oh, it's starting! Our timing is perfect," Moeha Fujiwara said with a smile.
Not wanting to spoil her friend's mood, Kei Shirogane took a deep breath and looked up at the stage.
And then, she saw a familiar, handsome, almost radiant figure walk onto the stage.
Kei Shirogane froze instantly.
Her bright eyes slowly widened.
"Fu... Fumiya-san?"
"Huh?" Hearing this, Moeha Fujiwara looked at the handsome guy on stage and said in astonishment, "He... he's that handsome landlord you've been obsessing over? Wait, no way, he's a young, super handsome guy! I thought he was going to be some charming middle-aged man! And... wow, Kei-chan, you've got great taste..."
"Obsessing? I... I'm n-not..." Kei Shirogane stared blankly at the figure on stage, her words becoming slurred. "N... o... t..."
The moment Fumiya Jin stepped on stage, he immediately captured the audience's attention.
Especially since most of the people there were girls, with only two or three boys.
The moment the girls saw Fumiya Jin, they erupted with passion, letting out waves of gasps and screams.
Fumiya Jin gave them a token wave in greeting before turning to look at his bandmates behind him.
Ryo Yamada was tuning her bass.
Hitori Gotoh stood in the farthest corner, tuning her guitar.
Nijika sat behind the drum set, seemingly with nothing to tune, her expression a little dazed.
Fumiya Jin walked over and said, "Miss Band Leader, what are you spacing out for?"
Nijika finally snapped out of it.
Looking at Fumiya Jin's face, she felt like she was in a dream.
Today's performance was supposed to be a total disaster. Fumiya Jin was just an audience member she had invited; he shouldn't have been able to change anything.
But, in the span of just two hours, Fumiya Jin had suddenly learned to play the guitar with incredible skill.
He had stepped up to take on the role of lead guitarist, moving Hitori to the relatively easier position of rhythm guitarist, where she only needed to follow his lead.
This successfully lowered Hitori Gotoh's anxiety by a huge margin, and her performance improved drastically.
Then, he had suddenly suggested changing the song.
Within half an hour, he and Ryo Yamada had arranged the musical score for a new piece, and together they helped Nijika work out the drum part.
And so...
At this very moment...
The four of them were on stage together.
Not just performing an instrumental piece, but a proper vocal performance.
Performing a new song that seemed to be unreleased but sounded amazing.
For a band performing for the first time, could anything be more dreamlike than this?
The Nijika from before couldn't have dreamed of such a wonderful possibility, not even in her wildest dreams.
Yet, it was all happening.
And just as Fumiya Jin had said before—whatever Nijika needed, he had it
...
Th-This is just too ridiculous...
Nijika was silent for a few seconds, then she stared blankly at Fumiya Jin and asked in a low voice,
"Fumiya-san, you... you aren't actually a god, are you?"
______
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