The five of them slowly turned around, their gazes converging to bring the song to a close. The performance of the entire song, even with the addition of Jhin, the guitarist who joined halfway, didn't seem the slightest bit abrupt.
The cheers this time were even more deafening than before.
"Jhin-san, you're so handsome!"
"Kita, you sang great!"
"Do you have an album for your songs? I want to buy a copy!"
With Jhin's help, they completed the second song's performance with a scare but no danger. Kita Ikuyo felt that she couldn't even hold the microphone in her hand steadily, her tone trembling slightly: "Today, thank you all so very much!"
"We will become an amazing band, making everyone proud in the future to have seen today's performance!"
"Ohhh!"
"Alright!"
"Go to the Budokan!"
"Next..." Kita Ikuyo turned her gaze to Jhin beside her. "We also have to thank Jhin for saving the show in the nick of time. He was really cool, right everyone?!"
"That's right!"
"Jhin-san, ahhhh!"
Kita Ikuyo handed the microphone to him. "Jhin, why don't you say a few words?"
"Mm, well... hello everyone."
"Originally, I hoped to be in the audience appreciating the performance with you all, but unfortunately, a small accident occurred, so I had to bite the bullet and come up on stage." Jhin shrugged with a bitter smile, his actions drawing laughter from the crowd.
"Just now, I heard someone asking about the band's album. They haven't released any albums yet, but don't be disappointed. After this performance ends, the production of Kessoku Band's first album will be put on the schedule. It will include the songs from this performance as well as the tracks performed outside of school."
"Speaking of this, perhaps some people want to ask why I, this 'Fire Captain,' know these things so clearly."
"Hahaha, 'Fire Captain' suits you too well."
"Are you a hidden member or something?"
The audience buzzed with discussion, and the atmosphere became cheerful.
"To say I'm a hidden member, strictly speaking, I guess I count..." As Jhin spoke, he walked to the side of Hitori Gotoh, who was smiling because of her boyfriend's cool rescue, and took her soft hand. "More often, I stay by their side as Hitori's boyfriend and the person in charge of the band's record label."
"Heheh." Jhin's laughter was full of pride, not concealing his emotions in the slightest. "I firmly believe they will step onto the Budokan in the most magnificent way, because every single one of them is excellent—excellent to the point where even I find them dazzling!"
"Ohhhh! Jhin, that was well said! As expected of Bocchi-chan's boyfriend!" Kikuri Hiroi was the first to start heckling, and following her were the teasing and laughter of the rest of the audience.
"You are completely showing off public displays of affection!"
"To be able to say such things at a time like this, you are actually the most attention-grabbing one, hey!"
"I really want to find a band girlfriend too!"
"Laughing to death, you didn't look at yourself to see if you have Jhin-san's talent."
Jhin's declaration caused Hitori Gotoh, as his girlfriend, to instantly receive a massive amount of staring gazes. Happiness and a sense of shame rushed to the top of her skull like soda fizzing after being shaken and having the cap twisted off.
The... the world... the world is spinning...
The scene before her eyes seemed like a picture being washed of its color, turning from color to black and white, and then completely to black.
Hitori Gotoh staggered two steps, her eyes turning into spinning mosquito coils, and she fell stiffly straight into Jhin's arms.
"Bocchi-chan!?"
"Ah wawa, hurry and take her to the infirmary!"
The performance belonging to Kessoku Band came to a close amidst unexpected events and chaos that people couldn't help but smile at. The wonderful performance and Jhin's speech, which was no different from a confession, made them a hot topic in the school for some time.
"Kuh~ The taste of cup sake is just different!" Kikuri Hiroi raised her eyebrows and happily held up the glass bottle in her hand. Seika Ijichi shook her head repeatedly watching her; she couldn't even remember which bottle this was for Kikuri Hiroi. It felt like the jacket she was wearing was like a certain famous blue fatty's four-dimensional pocket—she could always pull alcohol out of it.
After Hitori Gotoh fainted, she was sent to the infirmary by Jhin. The rest of the group, having finished the performance, waited for them outside the school building.
Shaking the bottle, Kikuri Hiroi tried hard to squint, wanting to see clearly if there was any alcohol left inside. Unfortunately, everything she looked at right now was a multiple exposure image, and she couldn't distinguish anything at all. She could only judge by her alcoholic instincts that it was empty.
"Tsk, the amount is just too small. If only it had the same volume as shochu."
Tossing the empty bottle into the campus trash can, Kikuri Hiroi's reflex arc, anesthetized by alcohol, only reacted then. She asked Nijika blankly, "Huh? During the performance just now, did Jhin mention a record company?"
"Your reaction is way too delayed."
"Wait, was he not joking?"
"Mm, Jhin told us before." Nijika recounted to her sister and Kikuri Hiroi what Jhin had said back when they went to play at Enoshima.
"~So nice. Big Sis wants a dedicated record company for her band too!" Kikuri Hiroi's tone was full of envy. She hugged Nijika and pleaded, "Can Jhin sign our band too...?"
Considering that Kikuri Hiroi had come specifically to support them today, Nijika endured the pungent smell of alcohol and allowed her face-rubbing behavior.
"We don't have the final say in this kind of thing. You have to go ask Jhin."
"Aiya, he definitely wouldn't look at an old woman like me. Look at his speech today... Tsk tsk tsk, if I were ten-something years younger, I would definitely fight Bocchi-chan for the man."
Seika Ijichi delivered a knife-hand chop heavily onto the head of Kikuri Hiroi, who was talking nonsense. "Don't speak such gibberish in front of Bocchi-chan. She already doesn't have much confidence in herself. What if she takes it seriously? I don't want the atmosphere in Kessoku Band to become weird."
"Ah, sorry, sorry. I'll pay attention in the future."
Kita Ikuyo only now completely pulled herself out of the lyrics of 'If I Could Become a Constellation'. Hearing Seika Ijichi's warning to Kikuri Hiroi, she became even more determined in her thought to maintain a friend relationship with Jhin.
This band that everyone cherishes so incomparably, I must protect it well!
"Everyone, kept you waiting!" Jhin walked over, waving to them while holding the hand of the sobered-up Hitori Gotoh.
Hitori Gotoh acted like a wanted criminal, looking left and right neurotically, as if as soon as a stranger's gaze looked her way, she would immediately shrink into the area she considered safe (Jhin's embrace).
Because Jhin had formally announced her identity as his girlfriend at school, she constantly felt that girls interested in Jhin would jump out and shout at her.
"You don't deserve him at all, get away from Jhin-san quickly!"
Or perhaps a hidden rich young miss in the school would lift her neck as noble as a swan, walk to her with arrogant strides, and throw a check at her with a contemptuous gaze:
"How much money for you to be willing to leave him? Name a price."
____
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