Kessoku Band passed screening; their show was tentatively set for the following Saturday.
Before the show, each needed to sell five tickets. Since Aoki wouldn't perform, it didn't involve him.
The weekend flew by.
The new week's weather was awful—clouds nearly nonstop.
Monday uneventful: classes, then livehouse ensemble practice.
Tuesday: overcast, ~20°C. Better than yesterday, but not great.
Feeling decent that morning, Aoki slung his backpack and guitar and walked up the now-familiar long slope.
He didn't bump into Hikigaya Hachiman this time. Hikigaya slid in just before the bell.
Probably because he'd biked his sister Komachi to school—that last time he slid in, he'd used "late" as an excuse to gush about her for ten minutes.
Siscon is terrifying.
Thinking impolitely, Aoki greeted him.
"Ah… morning," Hikigaya muttered back.
They stopped there.
The bell rang immediately.
First period was Hiratsuka-sensei's Japanese. With her infamous temper, no one dared mess around.
Except Aoki.
Japanese mostly relied on memorization, and he'd already learned what she was covering. So while Hiratsuka lectured on Matsuo Bashō, Aoki worked math.
For all her fire, Hiratsuka's teaching philosophy was liberal: so long as you didn't disturb others, a top-rank student could self-study.
He shored up weak points; period flew by.
So did the next three. The lunch bell rang.
He bought a cheap set meal in the cafeteria, then two colas at the vending machine.
He popped his own, and shook the other in front of Hikigaya before handing it over.
With a deadpan face, Hikigaya endured. Ten minutes later they finished lunch.
Hikigaya returned to class. Aoki was going to pack up then head downstairs to teach Kita guitar, but before he reached the door, Hiratsuka hurriedly called him from the end of the hall.
On the pretext of "surveying transfer students' intentions" for the school committee, she said she needed a bit of his lunch time.
He wasn't thrilled, but as a backdoor-admit to Shuchiin… er, Shōno—(he owed favors)—he decided to cooperate.
Not having contact info was a pain. He couldn't warn Kita. But Hiratsuka looked urgent, so he silently apologized to Kita and vowed to make it up to her that afternoon.
He followed Hiratsuka to the staff room.
…
Meanwhile—
Hikigaya, back from lunch, lay on his desk staring at the unopened cola can, debating.
After a pep talk, he decided to open it in the restroom.
So he left class, popped it in the bathroom, got splashed, washed up—and on the way back ran into a familiar redhead he'd seen with Aoki.
…
As usual, after lunch, Aoki would come with his guitar to Kita's class.
But today he didn't show. After a while, she grew curious and went to 2-F to find him.
But he wasn't there either.
With no way to contact him, and unsure if something urgent had come up, she was about to return to class when she ran into the upperclassman who sat in front of Aoki and seemed friendly with him.
So she asked,
"Um… excuse me, senpai—do you know Aoki Kei?"
Hikigaya glanced around the empty hall, then turned his dead-fish eyes on her.
"Aoki? Yeah. Why?"
"Ah—if you do, do you know where he is now? He's not in class…"
"I thought he went to first-years with his guitar as usual… he didn't?"
"No," she shook her head, then added, "Do you have his contact? It's so inconvenient not to—we couldn't reach him last Thursday when he went to work either…"
"I don't either. Just ask him next time you see him? But… work?"
Hikigaya paused. "Didn't he quit everything for the band? Thursday afternoon he had club stuff."
"..."
"Eh?"
Kita blinked.
"Quit… everything?"
"To chase results with the band, he dropped his part-time jobs. If they don't place in two months he'll be eating grass with no savings…"
Since she was Aoki's friend, Hikigaya explained patiently.
But mid-sentence, noting Kita's dawning horror, he realized—
"He… didn't tell you?"
If Aoki hadn't told his bandmates, he didn't want them to know. And now…
He'd stuck his foot in it.
But right then, Kita wasn't paying attention to Hikigaya's "oh no" face.
She was stunned.
She spent most afternoons and weekends at STARRY, chatting with everyone. She'd heard Aoki wasn't well off— even the rumor he'd once sold his guitar.
So this blindsided her.
He'd quit work to go all-in for the band, to get results within two months…
He'd told them "don't stress about results," "playing in a band should be fun"…
No wonder he trained harder than usual. No wonder he had time to teach her.
…
He could have told them and asked them to push harder. But he kept it to himself.
She remembered the line he'd said when joining Kessoku:
"Just enter the contest—failure won't get you punished. Don't carry a mental burden."
Kita always thought of the band as a whole. Hearing about his situation, she suddenly felt pressure too.
He didn't want to burden them. Not even a mention…
Mind racing, she made up her mind—
She needed to tell Nijika.
She took a breath, looked back to Hikigaya, skipped answering, and said simply,
"I understand. Thank you, senpai."
-------
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