Joker's Band Game Story

If Grandma doesn't know, then it will be even more difficult for me to be honest with her.

She didn't want Ren Amamiya to tell her grandmother about these things, but she also hoped he could reveal a little bit... Ugh! She couldn't be so conflicted!

An and Subaru smacked themselves on the head twice to stop shifting all the blame onto Ren Amamiya.

Having vented her temper, she now slumped back onto the soft sofa chair.

"But I haven't figured out how to tell Grandma yet..."

"Did you get scolded by Rencai?"

Amamiya could tell at a glance that Subaru had most likely been lectured by Nina. That kid had a whole repertoire of profound道理 (moral principles/philosophies), which was strangely endearing.

Of course, this cuteness is only possible if the other person is still a child and a pretty girl.

If it were a middle-aged man... he'd have that old-fashioned vibe you get from relatives you meet during the Lunar New Year.

But she's not one to create trouble for no reason. She's always like that; if she finds a problem, she'll solve it immediately and won't leave any potential problems unresolved. It's just that not everyone can adapt to her personality, but once you can, the environment around you will definitely be very pleasant.

"Hmm...this kid just came to my house and kept nagging me about it."

"You're the one who called her over, aren't you?"

"That's not wrong..."

Amamiya understood Subaru's feelings; she was just too conflicted.

When she gets caught up in a dilemma, she doesn't know what to do and appears quite lost. That's why she asks the people around her for advice.

Momoka, as always, didn't want to get involved. She felt she had no right to talk about such things, so if Subaru left the band for his own reasons, she would respect and understand. Asking her would definitely not get her an answer.

So he had no choice but to ask Nina, but after asking her, he was still confused, so he called Ren Amamiya over.

This is why Amamiya was surprised; he had thought that since he wasn't that close to Subaru, it was impossible for him to be invited to his home.

After all, he is of the opposite sex. Inviting someone of the same sex to your home is completely different from inviting someone of the opposite sex, okay?

"Since you've already decided to talk to her, isn't that good enough?"

"But... I don't know how to talk to them."

She buried her face in the sofa chair, her butt sticking out in an awkward position, looking genuinely conflicted.

She was conflicted; she had absolutely no idea how to tell her grandmother about it. She didn't want to be an actress, but...

She didn't want to disappoint her grandmother either.

"I think instead of worrying about this, you should worry more about whether your grandma will scold you later."

"rebuke?"

Amamiya reminded Subaru to consider other things first, such as...

"Yes, let's go through it all... Your own friends came to see you, but instead of introducing them to your grandma, you lied and said they were lost strangers. Your own friends are clearly in a band, but you lied to your grandma and said they were your theater buddies. You even talked badly about your grandma behind her back, and she overheard you. You don't actually think your grandma won't hold you accountable for all of this, do you?"

Ren Amamiya started listing the items to Subaru one by one on his fingers, and with each item he mentioned, Subaru broke out in a cold sweat.

She had almost forgotten about these things. She felt fortunate to have escaped from her grandmother that day, but now, recalling what she had done, she felt somewhat worried.

Oh no! What should we do?!

"Wait a minute, at least in the middle, my grandma doesn't know they're my band friends, does she?"

But Subaru quickly sensed something was amiss. Why would Amamiya bring up the incident in the middle as well?

Although I would tell my grandma about this when I was being honest with her, I would only tell her after she had scolded me. Isn't this cause and effect reversed?

Or……

Did you tell Grandma about this?

"I said I didn't say it."

"So my grandma didn't know about this?"

"I didn't say that."

Amamiya's words made Subaru blush. Even his grandmother knew about this, yet he still said it wasn't him!

"Of course I didn't tell her. Who told someone to give themselves away by not acting properly?"

Amamiya shrugged, knowing Subaru's thoughts, and reminded her that her grandmother already knew everything, so she shouldn't keep it a secret anymore.

Did the acting go wrong...?

Subaru deflated again. She understood that she couldn't blame Amamiya. He hadn't said anything, but her grandmother had already deduced everything. So she could only accept her bad luck.

Well, at this moment, Subaru didn't know that the reason her grandmother could deduce was precisely because Amamiya was present. Otherwise, she would definitely have vented her anger on Amamiya today.

After all, she really needed to vent her emotions about dealing with her grandmother during this period.

She likes her grandmother and is afraid of her grandmother, but they are not contradictory. She is afraid of her grandmother because her grandmother is strict with her. That kind of imposing demeanor makes Subaru subconsciously want to avoid her grandmother.

She likes her grandma because she knows that her grandma always does things for her own good, and her strict requirements are also for her own benefit. Her grandma also paves the way for her in daily life, and even her appearance in this TV series was made possible by her help.

That's right, her attitude towards her grandmother was a mixture of love and fear, which is why she was always so conflicted.

But now that I know Grandma has already guessed all this... I'll just wait until she scolds me and then lay everything out on the table.

"Alright! I understand everything. It's getting late, please take your leave!"

Having already understood everything, Subaru used her as a tool and then discarded her, asking Amamiya to leave her house.

Even if she didn't say anything, Amamiya was already planning to retreat on his own; he didn't intend to stay at Subaru's house any longer.

To put it bluntly, the relationship wasn't that close, so he certainly didn't plan to stay at the woman's house for long. He wouldn't have come if she hadn't said she had something to do.

But since we're already here in Shibuya... let's go explore the surrounding area.

Having nothing to do today, he carried his guitar and started wandering around Shibuya. With nothing else to do, he decided to stroll around Shibuya and buy some things to give as gifts later.

"Huh? Someone's playing music outdoors?"

Amamiya suddenly noticed that there seemed to be a performance nearby, so he went over to see what was going on.

I walked over and saw that it was someone I knew!

She is a member of the band she had previously supported – Ayaka Sakai.

However, she looked troubled, so Ren Amamiya looked in the direction she kept glancing...

Oh, so you've been bothered by this person. That makes perfect sense.

When I saw Ayaka Sakai playing music, there was a strange-looking woman with purple braids squatting next to her, smiling at Ayaka Sakai.

Seeing this without knowing her is indeed quite frightening. After all, you're performing, and the other person keeps staring at you with a strange look; it's easy to think of her as a 'pervert'.

Of course, it's really just because the other person is drunk, and being bothered by a drunkard isn't a good thing.

"Hey! Isn't that Lian!"

The other person noticed Amamiya at that moment, immediately greeted him, and swayed to his feet, strolling over to greet Amamiya happily: "What are you doing here?"

"We're just passing by. Let's go explore other places and not scare anyone else."

"Huh? Really? I was just sitting there listening to music."

"I'm more concerned about something else, where's your bass? Where did you lose it again?"

"Hey! Right! Where's my bass?"

Watching the two figures disappear into the distance, Ayaka Sakai felt a deep sense of gratitude towards Ren Amamiya.

But if you know Ren Amamiya... then that girl probably isn't a bad person... right?

But it still feels really scary!

The somewhat introverted Ayaka was filled with inner turmoil.

As for the girl she was afraid of... she wasn't exactly a bad person, it's just that the other girl had a very strong aura when she was drunk.

"Ah~ my favorite bass~ I've finally found you."

The drunken girl was hugging and rubbing against her bass guitar, but listening to what she was saying, and considering how drunk she had forgotten about her bass, one couldn't help but feel sorry for the little bass's tragic fate.

Little Bass was suffering inside, but he couldn't speak. If he could speak, he would have already started yelling at the other person.

Ahem, let me introduce you to this woman, Kikuto Hiroi, the bassist, singer, and leader of Sick Hack.

That's right, despite her carefree and nonchalant demeanor, she's actually the band leader. Amamiya once investigated and found out that she had worried about this.

Her band also asked Ren Amamiya for help, mainly because someone in the band had a bad cold and couldn't go on stage during a live performance, so they asked Ren Amamiya to come and help. They decided to give it a try, thinking they had nothing to lose and that Ren Amamiya was a good name. The result was unexpectedly good.

Naturally, that's how he got to know Amamiya. Of course, another reason for getting to know each other was... Amamiya would occasionally catch wild, drunken chrysanthemums near his home.

For some reason, she would always wander around after getting drunk, but the fact that she could wander from Shinjuku to Zoshigaya is quite absurd in a way.

Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Mysterious Little Bar

Kikuri Hiroi, a very strange girl... Oh, she should be called a woman at her age.

She is Ijichi Hoshika's junior, four years younger than Hoshika. Amamiya only learned this when she chatted with Hoshika later, and she was surprised to find out that they had this relationship.

The most amazing thing is that this woman is an extremely introverted "i" person, but after drinking, she transforms into an incredibly eccentric "e" person. Her reason for drinking is simply that alcohol allows her to forget her worries about the future and the present; in other words, drinking is just a form of escapism.

The saying "escaping is shameful but very useful" applies perfectly to her.

In terms of alcoholism, she was probably the most serious member of Amamiya's band. Although Amamiya had talked to her about the effects of such heavy drinking on her health, her logic was—if I don't drink, I want to die right now, so I might as well drink.

This is the pain of adulthood, which led her to choose this way of escaping and living one day at a time.

Although Amamiya could understand her situation, after all, there were far too many band members in his past life who had such worries, and he had also experienced those days of fear to the point of numbness.

So seeing Hiroi using this method to numb herself, he could only offer some advice, but couldn't force her to change.

If he could, he would have hoped that Hiroi wouldn't hurt himself like that, but that's life, and there's nothing more he could say.

Given the choice between being happy now and suffering later, or suffering now and being happy later, many people would choose the former, since who can predict the future?

"You should drink less."

"Okay, okay, I know~ Lian is always so nagging~"

Even when drunk, Hiroi spoke with such unrestrained abandon that Amamiya felt an urge to punch her on the head.