Iruma-san wants to win the Akutagawa Prize

Iruma Hibiki thought for a moment, then spoke:

"Ichichi-san probably heard that before, right? I overdrew my savings to buy the instrument, so I'm planning to find a part-time job during the week and on weekends, even if it's not just for extracurricular activities reports."

"Of course, during the week I can probably only do it on Friday after school. On the weekend, Saturday is probably the perfect time for us to finish our work and rehearse together."

"I see! Fanxing does need help recently! Fridays and Saturdays are indeed the busiest times."

Ijichi Hongxia lowered her head, then spread her fingers on both hands, poked them together, and then said with a distressed look:

"But recently I heard from my sister that there are some problems with the operation of Fanxing, so they may not be able to offer too high a salary... Oh, this!"

As she spoke, Ichichi Hongxia rummaged through her pockets and took out a can of Goodbaby juice.

"It's a return gift for helping me yesterday. I didn't know what flavor you liked, Iruma-san, so I bought my favorite."

"Yes, Ijichi-san is surprisingly aesthetically pleasing."

Iruma Hibiki smiled.

In fact, he likes all drinks, except for some really outrageous ones.

"Great that Iruma-san likes this."

Iruma Hibiki opened the juice and started drinking it, then changed the subject again:

"As for the salary, it doesn't matter if it's not too high. Well, after the part-time job the day before yesterday and the concert yesterday, I liked the atmosphere in the livehouse, so I want to try it more."

"If that's the case, sure. I'll go home and talk to my sister about it. It would be fun to work part-time with Iruma-san."

While chatting, Iruma Hibiki and Ijichi Nikka returned to the classroom.

"It would be great if the troubles Fanxing encountered could be solved smoothly."

Before entering the classroom, Iruma Hibiki spoke gently to Hongxia, and then the bell for class rang at the right time.

And just when Hibiki Iruma thought that this ordinary day, filled with miracles and adorned with the sunshine of Ijichi Nijika, would continue -

After school, the few members of the Xiagao Society returned home.

At the school gate, Hibiki Iruma saw a figure.

Naturally, he did not go out with Ijichi Kouka after school. Although Ijichi Kouka invited him, after seeing Yamada Ryo waiting at the classroom door, Iruma Hibiki did not choose to disturb Ijichi Kouka's social circle.

So he went out alone.

Of course, it is not accurate to say that I was alone.

Because at this moment, there was actually a small group of people gathered at the school gate, and the focus of this small group of people was——

"Good afternoon, Iruma-san."

Standing under the school emblem of Xiagao, Nagasaki Suyo, wearing the uniform of Tsuki no Mori Junior High School, was waving at him with a smile. That smile mesmerized some of the students who had been watching from the beginning, while also casting a slightly sharp look at Iruma Hibiki.

"Good afternoon, Nagasaki-san."

Ignoring those thorny gazes, Iruma Xiang sighed slightly. He felt a little helpless. In fact, for him, he had already had some premonition when he saw a hand that kept touching the flaxen long hair and half of it was exposed behind the school sign on the way here.

But when he actually saw Nagasaki Motoyo's "The Secret of the Nine-Headed Dragon", he was still shocked.

“Is there a karaoke bar nearby?”

"Yes, it's near Shimokitazawa Station. I was curious about Iruma-san and Ijichi-san's school, so I came to take a look. I hope I didn't cause you any trouble."

There was a hint of uneasiness in Nagasaki Suyo's tone.

This guy knows how shocking this behavior is—

Iruma Hibiki didn't know what to say in her heart.

21 Chihaya Aine's application to join

"As for causing trouble, I don't think so."

Iruma Hibiki sighed, and with his sigh, Nagasaki Suyo's fingers playing with her hair became more restless. She kept pinching the ends of her hair and circling them around her fingers, letting go, and then repeating this action, with a slight evasive look in her eyes.

As for Hibiki Iruma, he just wants all this to end quickly.

He could already imagine the horrific headlines tomorrow.

As Hibiki Iruma walked towards the street, Nagasaki Suyo also hurried to follow. Fortunately, although Hibiki Iruma wanted to escape immediately, he still took care of Nagasaki Suyo and slowed down his pace, allowing Nagasaki Suyo to just catch up.

It was probably at this moment that Hibiki Iruma suddenly began to miss Nikka Ijichi. If Nikka Ijichi were here, perhaps he and Soyo Nagasaki would get along more smoothly...

perhaps.

"Is Ijichi-san on duty today?"

On the way, Nagasaki Suyo asked the question first.

"No, Ijichi-san left earlier. Didn't you see her?"

Iruma Hibiki had a puzzled expression on his face.

If he remembered correctly, Ijichi Hongxia should have left school earlier than him.

“Maybe I just missed it.”

Immediately, a look of regret appeared on Nagasaki Suyo's face, and after a brief silence, Iruma Hibiki spoke:

"Ijichi-san has something important to attend to, so it's not the agreed rehearsal time. We'd better not force her too much."

For some reason, Hibiki Iruma always felt that Nagasaki Suyo was the person who needed him to emphasize this point.

"Hmm...Come to think of it, Ijichi-san was also busy yesterday at Fanxing."

"But regarding the band, we still need to keep working hard where we can. Nagasaki-san, have you received a response to the band's recruitment information?"

Iruma Hibiki's change of subject was very effective, and the loneliness on Nagasaki Suyo's face disappeared for the time being, which made him feel relieved.

After all, finding a balance between the reality and the passion of his ideals and maintaining a good band atmosphere was indeed a difficult task that he had not anticipated.

"Let me see."

Nagasaki Suyo took out her cell phone.

"Yeah! Someone replied! Should we contact her now?"

"Let's talk about it at karaoke."

"okay."

The gift certificate that Nagasaki Suyo received was actually for a karaoke bar near Shimokitazawa Station. The price was already very reasonable, and with the discount, it was almost free.

"This is incredible! Iruma-san! I just saw on the campus forum that a girl from Tsuki no Mori seems to be visiting our school!"

Just after Nagasaki Motoyo and Iruma Hibiki entered the box, Ijichi Kouka's message was also sent to Iruma Hibiki.

[It's Nagasaki-san. She came to me to practice singing at karaoke.]

[Hey!!!! Nagasaki-san is coming to our school?!]

Seeing Ijichi Kouka's surprised reply, Iruma Hibiki finally felt something was real. Nagasaki Soyo's behavior even made him feel that in the past few years, Tokyo's school rules and the way high school students get along have quietly undergone some decisive changes.

Fortunately, everything is still the same.

Iruma Hibiki couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, finding some sense of groundedness from Ijichi Kouka's shock.

"Is that Ijichi-san?"

It was at this moment that Iruma Hibiki heard the voice of Nagasaki Motoyo beside him.

"Well, she said she heard a rumor that Miss Tsukinomori came to the gate of our school."

"Eh--"

Nagasaki Motoyo's surprised voice, which she responded subconsciously, stopped halfway through. She obviously realized that the so-called eldest lady of Tsuki no Mori was herself.

"What song would you like to order, Nagasaki-san?"

And Iruma Hibiki also cut off the topic at the right time.

……

Time passed quickly in the karaoke. Although Hibiki Iruma's singing was a disaster, karaoke was the kind of place where you could have fun without caring about your singing skills. So after Nagasaki Suyo sang a few songs, Hibiki Iruma followed suit and sang a few songs he was familiar with.

All in all, he and Nagasaki Suyo had a lot of fun playing together.

The 3 hours in the private room were not wasted.

After the two sang together for two hours, they got down to business as a band.

"The time we agreed to meet is this Saturday afternoon. What do you think, Iruma-san?"

"New guy?"

"Hmm, I think it's the guitar lead singer."

Then, before Iruma Hibiki could react, Nagasaki Motoyo handed the phone to him.

This caused Iruma Hibiki's pupils to shrink in an instant, and he froze in place.

Yes, in the world before crossing over, perhaps exchanging phones with each other was something that friends could do, but in Tokyo——

At least in the past ten years of his life, he had never seen anyone who could hand his mobile phone to someone else so calmly.

My name is Chihaya Aine, and I'm a third-year student at Fukuromori Girls' Junior High School! I'm also the student council president, and I hope to be the lead guitarist in my band!

My name is Nagasaki Suyo, a graduate of Tsuki no Mori Junior High School, and I'm currently the bassist in our band. Chihaya-san, if you're in Fukuromori, you're pretty close to both Ikebukuro and Shimokitazawa, right? Would you like to meet up this Saturday afternoon to talk about the band? It just so happens that we have a rehearsal that day.

"Okay! We'll contact each other then, Nagasaki-san!"

"What do you think, Iruma-san? I don't think there's anything wrong with my reply. Since this is my first time doing something like this, I'm worried it might be a bit rude."

Looking at Nagasaki Soyo who was frowning and looked really worried, Iruma Hibiki suppressed some of his panic and fear, and then gently handed the phone back to Nagasaki Soyo.

"I think that's fine. I can just discuss the meeting place and stuff with Ijichi-san then."

“That’s great…”

Just after finishing the band's business, Nagasaki Suyo started playing with her fingers again.

Iruma Hibiki, who already knew something about Nagasaki Suyo, probably knew what her action meant - Nagasaki Suyo must be thinking about something right now.

"Iruma-san, I'm so sorry about what happened this morning... Could you please forget about it?"

Then Iruma Hibiki saw Nagasaki Suyo with a blushing face and a conflicted and shy look on her face.

"okay."

Iruma Hibiki responded subconsciously, but it wasn't until she got home, took a shower, and was about to say hello to Ijichi Kouka and go to bed that she realized what Nagasaki Soyo was referring to about what happened this morning.

22 A Lifetime of Tuesday Mornings

It's already mid-April, and the agonizing pre-school situation isn't over yet, but the Golden Week holiday is already around the corner. In about two weeks, the holiday season from the end of April to the beginning of May will begin, and in places like Tokyo, the so-called May syndrome will begin to spread.

As for Iruma Hibiki, he is not a patient suffering from May syndrome.

But he knew a patient with May disease, an extremely severe type of May disease.

He's the kind of guy who looks like he'd rather die than live after every long vacation.

Actually, for Hibiki Iruma, recalling her memories wasn't a bad thing, but...

"call--"

After a long sigh, he could not forget the shocking fact he saw on the Guitar Hero account that day. What surprised him was that although the two of them had separated now, the time they agreed to meet again was already a snowy Christmas.

However, Goto Ichiri's lies continue.

Guitar Hero's update today——

Iruma-san and I are having a hard time deciding how to spend our spring break together. Should we go on a city trip abroad or go off-roading? Hahaha, I wish I could get some advice.

……

he.

What should I do?

Seeing that the few people he might have interacted with in this life were continuing that stupid lie, Hibiki Iruma felt a slight headache.

Then came——