Iruma-san wants to win the Akutagawa Prize

He put down the piano, went to the bathroom to wash his face, then lay down on the bed, used the last bit of his remaining willpower to set the alarm, and fell asleep.

No matter what, tomorrow is a new day.

He thought so.

I comfort myself with the ending of "Jane Eyre" that can shock the world.

Then, on an ordinary, overly sunny day in Shimokitazawa, an extremely precious, extremely tangled, extremely important, extremely painful, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime performance began.

Apart from the parties involved, I'm afraid no one would realize what such a small performance means.

They just held up their glow sticks with anticipation, and then saw the empty stage, led by Chihaya Aine, slowly filled with people.

"Hello everyone! I'm Chihaya Aine, the lead singer of this band. Today—"

The moment when the white light illuminated everyone's face.

"ring……"

With deep worry, Shoko Toyokawa looked at Hibiki Iruma on the stage, whose condition was not very good at all. After struggling for a long time, she showed a forced smile.

"Hiroshi! Gotta keep going—"

Then——

The lovely cry from Toyokawa Shoko cut through the noise and reached Iruma Hibiki's ears.

[Really? Xiangzi really hasn't changed at all.]

As Hibiki Iruma was thinking this, he found Toyokawa Shoko's figure the next moment. The girl with blue twin tails looked like a jellyfish in the sea of people. It was special and against common sense, but it was shining brightly under the dark and noisy stage. To Hibiki Iruma, it was like a rare light in the deep sea.

By the way, today, Toyokawa Shoko's glow stick is a beautiful goose yellow color.

37 Please don’t cry in the silence after the performance

"Pick the song Iruma is most familiar with."

When talking about the song selection for this concert, Ijichi Hongka said this.

For new bands, although it is indeed necessary to perform multiple different songs in the first performance, that is largely because new bands cannot be sure of the audience's perception, so they need to try.

But it's not necessary to end the band.

The song that ended the band's performance is the kind of music that can be repeated a few times without any problem.

"Hongxia."

Yamada Ryo wanted to say something at that time, but he nodded and agreed to Ijichi Hongka.

So soon, the song was decided - "Godknows". No matter how to say it, although it was a bit regrettable, Ijichi Nikka also had the impression in her mind that the lyrics belonged to the old end band, written by Iruma Hibiki.

However, the song was never completed.

There's no way it could be performed in this show.

And this kind of song is actually very familiar to Hibiki Iruma.

Another song that followed was an original song with lyrics by Ichiri Goto and music by Ryo Yamada, titled "Guitar, Loneliness and Blue Planet".

No matter from which angle you look at it, this is a very Goto Ichiri song.

Iruma Hibiki practiced this song a little last night, and managed to perform it well enough without making a fool of himself. In addition, this song is ranked second, so it's relatively safe.

For a while he warmed up with his most familiar songs.

"Actually, those who follow our blog should know that the guitarist Hibiki Iruma and I, who's standing there, were once members of this band, but we left due to some circumstances. It was also by chance that we ended up here today."

As Chihaya Aine spoke, the PA lady's light shone on Iruma Hibiki, and Iruma Hibiki also faced the audience and greeted them slightly.

Then——

He saw many familiar figures in the crowd below the stage.

All members of Crychic, of course including Nagasaki Motoyo who looked very unhappy.

Then there are the seniors like Toyama Kasumi who I met at my part-time job.

His junior high school classmate.

And maybe he remembered it wrongly, but Iruma Hibiki also saw a lot of people wearing Hidaka uniforms.

"Then what happens next-"

After introducing all the members, Chihaya Aine looked around at everyone on the field before getting ready to start.

After confirming their sight with Iruma Hibiki, Ijichi Nijinaka in the back raised her drumsticks in tacit understanding.

Hibiki Iruma, as the rhythm guitarist, was on the same level as Ichiri Goto and Ryo Yamada, almost not far behind him. Kouka Ijichi, as the drummer, was at the back of the band.

1 seconds.

2 seconds.

3 second……

The signal to start that Hibiki Iruma had expected did not come, and he looked behind him worriedly.

Then——

Ijichi Hongxia was looking at him.

The moment their eyes met, her beautiful eyes, like the setting sun, flashed with a complex look.

[Iruma, I will never forget every second that followed—]

Ijichi Hongxia thought so.

Iruma Hibiki saw Ijichi Nikka's smile and the barely perceptible glint of tears. Then, the three signals from Ijichi Nikka, ending the band's signature performance, rang out.

Almost from the beginning, Hibiki Iruma felt that giving the lead guitar to Ichiri Goto was an extremely correct choice, because Ichiri Goto's lead guitar was too perfect, especially on the song "Godknows".

Then Chihaya Aine's intervention——

In fact, at the beginning, Chihaya Aine made some small mistakes. When she started to sing the first word, she trembled because of her unstable breathing.

But Chihaya Aine quickly adjusted herself and it did not affect the subsequent performance at all.

And Chihaya Aine, who had entered the state of w〉u doctor, put ten seals together——

terrible.

The only word to describe Iruma Hibiki is terrifying.

Different from the sense of confession and shouting when Goto Ichiri sings, Chihaya Aine's singing has an incomparable dominance.

It seems like he wants to conquer this stage.

It seems as if he is manipulating every note.

Gradually, Hibiki Iruma immersed himself in the performance as if by instinct.

Then, very quickly, the first song ended.

The audience applauded loudly.

"Then comes today's second song, 'Guitar, Loneliness, and the Blue Planet.' This song was written by our lead guitarist Ichiri Goto and composed by bassist Ryo Yamada. It's a completely original song."

"Come to think of it, this is my first time singing too, so I'm a little nervous."

Along with Chihaya Aine's relaxed tone, some faint smiles were heard from the audience.

Maybe he totally doesn't believe that this is actually the first time for a lead singer like Chihaya Aine.

But, it's the truth.

At this moment, Hibiki Iruma also became nervous.

"Come to think of it, I had a lot of mixed feelings when I sang this song, but I was also very happy. So please listen—"

Along with Chihaya Aine's long notes, Goto Ichiri's guitar came in first.

In fact, when she lowered her head, she was staring at Iruma Hibiki.

Recently, Hibiki Iruma hasn't talked to her much because of the Crychic incident, and he rarely plays games. Goto Ichiri will occasionally open their save files and wander around the house they built aimlessly until he has to log off.

A little lonely, a little missing.

but--

Whenever Goto Ichiri heard a reply from Iruma Hibiki saying that the band was doing well, he would feel happy.

After learning that the purpose of this performance was to "bring back Hibiki Iruma", Goto Ichiri took on the burden of writing the lyrics, and she wrote the song seriously.

In order to...

Shout out your own voice.

[Iruma-san, did you hear that? My guitar, my voice!]

Thinking of this, Goto Ichiri stepped on the effect pedal with his left foot and leaned his body slightly to look at Iruma Hibiki on the other side. At this moment, Iruma Hibiki did not dare to relax at all and followed every note carefully.

Then the prelude ended and the main part of the song began——

In fact, this performance was somewhat beyond Iruma Hibiki's expectations.

The process was actually not as complicated and painful as he had imagined. He just became absorbed in the playing and focused, and then he had no time to think about anything else.

㈤㈡㈥㈥㈤㈡㈡㈤㈠

Then before I knew it, the song came to an end.

Just like that, the performance ended with the sound of the last note, and it didn't feel real at all.

until--

"Our performance is over! Thank you everyone! Although I may not be able to perform in the End Band for a long time, the End Band is a great band! I will never forget it! I must make sure that every performance from now on goes smoothly and brilliantly! Everyone!"

The naughty Chihaya Aine started shouting into the microphone.

It seemed as if this was her real voice.

There was thunderous applause from the audience. I guess we tried our best and had a great time, right?

No regrets?

Chihaya Aine stood there panting.

Yes, it's time to leave——

The performance was over, and the sounds of the next band getting ready could actually be heard through the curtain behind us. The way they were cheering was a bit strange.

Chihaya Aine turned around, and then she saw Iruma Hibiki who also had his head lowered.

However, Yamada Ryo has already taken the first step towards leaving.

Yes, the show is over—

Unconsciously, Iruma Hibiki used too much force with his hands. When the silent atmosphere continued until some questioning voices were heard from the audience, he slowly put down his hands, turned around, and took small steps towards the exit.

Did you have fun?

In fact, not at all.

Why is the time between the two songs so short?

This is what Hibiki Iruma was actually thinking about.

And at this moment, he was definitely not the only one who thought the same way.

They didn't feel any burden when they took the court, at most they were a little nervous.

The performance was also very good.

Only, leave.

There was no way they could say goodbye in style before everything was over.

38 Liking someone is a lie.