"Confidence-boosting magic?" ×3
"What? What is that?" Ijichi Nijika looked extremely curious and turned to Diego to ask.
Diego raised a finger to his lips, shushing them: "It's a secret. All three of you, come over here. This service isn't free—so tonight's dinner is on you guys."
The three slowly approached. Diego reached out and caught Goto Hitori.
Under the shocked gazes of Ryo and Nijika, Diego placed his hand on Goto Hitori's head and gently ruffled it: "Good, good, very good..."
"Eh?! Ehhh—?!!!" Ijichi Nijika let out a bewildered shriek. "Dio, what are you doing?! Hitori-chan is melting!!"
"Looks like I overdid it a bit. Yamada Ryo, Ijichi Nijika—you two come here too."
"I don't want to." Yamada Ryo raised one hand in protest.
Diego grabbed the sneaking-away Yamada Ryo and roughly tousled her hair into a bird's nest, smirking wickedly: "Objection overruled."
Then he looked toward Ijichi Nijika and asked: "Are you going to go through the formalities, or come here obediently on your own?"
Yamada Ryo, pinned under Diego's elbow, looked at Ijichi Nijika with a lifeless expression and said: "What are you doing, Nijika? This isn't the time to run away..."
(Expression guide: The look Eren had in Attack on Titan after Annie shoulder-threw him and called Reiner forward.)
In the end, Nijika blushed and chose the fate of obediently getting petted by Diego.
No one noticed the slight cracking of the skin on Diego's palm—that was the half-dragonized skin.
"I'm really looking forward to your performance. Work even harder for my sake." Diego gave a faint smile and casually left the practice room like it was nothing.
"Why did things turn out like this?!" Nijika shouted with a flushed face. "...Though I don't hate it or anything."
Beside her, Goto Hitori finally recovered from the embarrassment of having her head patted by Diego and returned to human form.
"Oh, Hitori-chan, are you back?" Nijika asked worriedly. "You're going on stage soon—are you going to use your real name? Or do you have some nickname or something?"
"In middle school and high school, classmates called me 'that person' or 'hey you' and stuff."
"That doesn't sound like a nickname for you at all!" Nijika retorted.
"How about Bocchi-chan then?" Ryo suddenly spoke up.
...
When I patted their heads earlier, I used Scary Monsters to make a tiny scratch on their scalps. They probably haven't even noticed they've been dinosaurized yet.
This way, I can make sure their performance goes smoothly. I hope you enjoy my little gift.
On the way to the audience seats, the aroma of coffee beans wafted into Diego's nose.
Sniff sniff, sniff sniff.
"That's the smell of coffee. Is someone brewing coffee? It smells so good—such a pleasant vibe!"
Diego tucked his little paws in and followed the coffee scent.
A beautiful black-haired straight-long beauty was brewing coffee. She was the sound engineer at the venue—everyone called her Pa-san.
"Oh my, isn't this the handsome guy who came back with Nijika?" Pa-san sat at the table, chin in hand. "Want a cup of coffee?"
"Good evening, Pa-san. It doesn't smell like No.1 Blue Mountain, but the flavor is really nice. I'll take one—put it on Ijichi Nijika's tab."
"I can treat you to one~" Pa-san handed Diego a cup, blinking playfully. "First-time handsome customers get special treatment~"
"Ko no Dio doesn't like owing favors." Diego took the coffee, turned to leave, and waved casually. "Ja ne~ Have a wonderful night."
So cool—he really looks like a British nobleman. I wonder where Nijika picked up such a prime specimen of a handsome guy.
Pa-san stared fixedly at Diego's departing back.
No one knew that beneath her cool exterior, Pa-san secretly had an anxious, cute side desperately searching for a boyfriend.
...
"Everyone, hello! We're Kessoku Band." Nijika waved her drumsticks in greeting to the audience below the stage.
"Today we're planning to play a few songs everyone should know—please look forward to it!"
Down in the audience, Diego, sipping his coffee, couldn't help but mutter:
"What the hell..." ×2
?
Am I possessed by an evil spirit?
He turned his head and saw an enlarged version of Ijichi Nijika staring right at him—except the angelic attributes had been removed and replaced with full-on arrogant-tsundere mode.
Ijichi Seika's cold, pretty face radiated intense curiosity. As a fellow member of the "worried about finding a boyfriend" alliance with Pa-san, Diego's appearance hit exactly on her aesthetic preferences.
She hurriedly averted her gaze, feigning composure by clenching her fist in front of her mouth and coughing twice: "Ahem, which band are you here to watch tonight, sir?"
Diego pointed toward Goto Hitori and the others performing on stage and said calmly: "Kessoku Band."
Eh? Kessoku Band? I only let Nijika perform tonight so she wouldn't have regrets... I didn't expect anyone to actually come watch...
"They're performing pretty well, huh? That's how it should be. Your first time should always leave some good memories." Diego looked at Kessoku Band and showed a gratified smile.
Although the crowd tonight was mostly Nijika's classmates, there were still plenty of audience members whose emotions were stirred by the performance. The atmosphere gradually heated up.
On stage, Nijika and Ryo were exchanging silent eye contact.
You feel it too, right, Ryo? Tonight's performance is unusually good—even Bocchi-chan overcame her social anxiety and kept up with the rhythm.
I feel it, Nijika. Tonight's condition is beyond imagination. We still had coordination issues during practice just earlier.
Oh! What is this?! What is this?! I don't seem to be scared anymore—this is Super Bocchi-chan Mode!!!
Under the influence of Scary Monsters, Goto Hitori gradually unleashed her full guitar-hero potential. The live atmosphere kept surging, and the audience's excitement soared higher and higher.
Down in the crowd, Kitagawa Marin was staring intently at Kessoku Band's performance.
So good, so good, so good! No wonder Kita-chan told me to come watch Kessoku Band—I'm completely a fan now!
But... where's Kita-chan? She invited me here and then disappeared?
Kitagawa Marin wondered in confusion.
(Kita Ikuyo: I originally wanted Marin to see how cool I looked on stage, but I still haven't learned guitar and ran away... Azuki beans, sumimasen!)
One song ended. Diego started clapping first, and soon thunderous applause and cheers erupted.
Kitagawa Marin snapped out of her moved and noticed Diego clapping beside her.
Such an imposing build! He looks like he walked straight out of a manga! He'd be perfect for cosplay!
Just as she was about to speak up, Diego left the audience area and headed toward the backstage practice room.
...
In the practice room, Nijika's face was slightly flushed as she looked at Ryo and Bocchi-chan and shouted excitedly: "We did it!"
Ryo nodded from the side, pulling out a handkerchief to wipe nonexistent tears: "Mm-hmm. The road we've come has really been tough."
Diego's mouth twitched. Come on, tell me—what exactly was so tough for you?
"Dio, thank you. If it weren't for you, today's performance would've been a total disaster." Nijika rushed over and gave Diego a quick hug.
"Good job, Ijichi Nijika. You worked really hard." Diego patted Nijika's head, suddenly feeling like he was raising a daughter.
But I did say I'd charge a fee. Hell is waiting for you ahead, Ijichi!
"Nijika is so bold." Ryo, watching the drama unfold with great amusement, covered her mouth.
Nijika instantly turned into a steam princess, frantically smacking Ryo's shoulders while mumbling incoherently: "Ryo is a big dummy."
Not long after, Nijika recovered from her embarrassed state and switched back to archangel mode, rummaging left and right.
"Where's the second-greatest contributor tonight, Bocchi-chan?" Nijika asked while searching the trash can.
Damn it, why is your first instinct to check the trash can?! Don't just treat people like garbage!
Ryo flipped open the nearby mango box, revealing Bocchi-chan—who was now overwhelmed with shame after Scary Monsters wore off.
Goto Hitori's body was twitching nonstop, her face deathly pale, a white soul slowly drifting out from the corner of her mouth.
"Bocchi-chan, don't die! We have to be in a band together forever!" Nijika shook Goto Hitori wildly, trying to yank her soul back into her body.
"Sumimasen... I'm sorry for getting so full of myself... Someone like me shouldn't even be alive..." Bocchi-chan kept muttering bizarre incantations.
Was the aftereffect of Scary Monsters too strong? Or is the training still not enough?
Ryo patted Goto Hitori's face gently: "Bocchi, Bocchi, wake up. The performance is over."
Snapping back to reality, Goto Hitori hurriedly replied: "Ah, sorry... I spaced out a bit..."
"For the next performance, I'll work hard enough to at least greet my classmates without running away!!"
Ryo wiped nonexistent tears again, showing an extremely shocked expression—like a parent watching their child grow up.
"Yay! Then next up is Bocchi-chan's welcome party slash self-reflection meeting for her problems."
"Ah, about that—sorry, I'm sleepy." Ryo raised her hand to decline.
"I've already talked way too much today. I'm exhausted. Please allow me to excuse myself first." Goto Hitori began beating a retreat.
Nijika looked at Ryo and Goto Hitori with a helpless expression and grumbled: "There's zero sense of unity here!"
Then she turned her gaze to Diego, blinking expectantly: "Hey... Dio. Our band might still be pretty immature, but... would you be willing to become our manager?"
An angel has issued a party invitation.
Diego touched the bandage on the corner of his mouth and pondered for a moment.
During Kessoku Band's performance, using Scary Monsters' superhuman dynamic vision and the extraordinary brainpower from Heavenly Restriction, Diego had borrowed Nijika's smartphone and absorbed most of the common knowledge of this era. He already fully understood what a "manager" was.
"What kind of compensation can you offer to hire me?"
"Um... since the band is still in the startup phase, we can probably only offer you free food, drinks, and snacks at STARRY for now."
"Acceptable. I accept. By the way, I like apples with the skin on—make sure to prepare some for me."
"Eh?!"
Ijichi Nijika never expected Diego to accept such an outrageous deal.
"Then, see you next time." Diego turned and left STARRY Performance Hall.
Not long after Diego left, Ijichi Seika suddenly poked her head in and asked: "Nijika, your friend put several cups of coffee on your tab."
"Eh—!!!?"
(PS: The so-called "confidence-boosting magic" was actually just having their minds emptied after being dinosaurized, so they stopped overthinking and could perform with full focus.)
...
I never imagined this was a peaceful era—almost no black markets exist at all. For someone like me with no legal status, working there is currently my best option.
As a refined egoist, Diego naturally wouldn't be so kind-hearted for no reason—but since the arrow is already on the string, how could he not let it fly?
Under the scattered starlight, Diego was about to find a park to spend the night when suddenly a series of sobs reached his ears.
A child's crying... Why is a kid still out this late at night and not home? What kind of irresponsible parent...
Tch, if their parent doesn't care, ko no Dio has no obligation to meddle.
I'm outta here!
"Hey, brat. It's so late—why are you hiding here crying all alone instead of going home?"
Damn it! My body moved on its own!
"I... after school... got scared by a dog... It barked at me... followed me the whole way... then I got lost... and fell down." Hori Sota sobbed as he answered Diego's question.
"Where do you live, kid? I'll take you back. Can you still walk?"
"I can't walk anymore."
"What a hassle. Get on—I'll carry you."
Diego crouched down, hoisted Sota onto his back, and started walking in the general direction Sota remembered.
Congratulations, congratulations.