“Well then, see you later!”
Azuma-senpai, now full of energy, returned to her room.
As I was absentmindedly opening and closing the hand she had just high-fived,
“Wait a minute, Konuma-senpai! What is the meaning of this?!”
I was called out from behind by my small, animal-like junior, Taira-chan. It felt like it had been a while, even though I’d just seen her yesterday.
“You were talking so friendly with Azuma-senpai! Did you talk to her about Stella-chan?”
“Yeah, I talked to her about that last night.”
“L-Last night?! Hmph! Your Ho-Ren-So is lacking! An organization that can’t do Ho-Ren-So is destined to fail!”
She pointed a finger sharply at me. Taira-chan really does love her organization theory.
“There were plenty of chances to talk during the firework display! What were you even doing during the fireworks, Senpai?!”
When she asked that, Sako’s smiling face flashed through my mind.
I don’t think I did anything wrong, but when asked directly what I was doing, it’s a bit hard to report...
“I-It was just fireworks...”
“I don’t need that kind of lovey-dovey couple exchange where one calls to ask ‘What are you doing now?’ and the other says ‘I’m on the phone’ and the first one goes ‘Geez, I know that already!’!”
Taira-chan acted out the role of the lovey-dovey couple, turning her head left and right like a professional rakugo storyteller.
...I feel like I had a similar exchange with a certain former genius singer-songwriter recently, but it must be my imagination.
“If only Senpai used LINE, I could easily keep you informed, but you don't use it, do you...” Taira-chan muttered frustratedly.
“No, I do use LINE, though...?”
“Eh? Wait? You do?”
Taira-chan tilted her head like a small animal.
Come to think of it, she mentioned something like that during the equipment loading yesterday morning too.
“After Rock On ended, I wanted to tell you how moved I was, so I looked for your LINE, Konuma-senpai. But you weren't in the Rock Club’s LINE group, so I asked President Amane. Then she told me, ‘I’ll invite Konuma-kun myself!’”
“Wait, I haven't been invited. Why...?”
“I want to know that too! I just assumed you weren't invited because you didn't use LINE.”
“I see...”
I really don’t understand what Ichikawa is thinking. Is she trying to stop me from graduating from being a loner? Why?
“Mmm, well, fine! Since you have it, let's exchange LINE IDs!”
“O-Oh...”
As usual, I didn't know how to do a ‘LINE exchange,’ so I just took out my smartphone and handed it to Taira-chan.
At the same time, Taira-chan held out her own smartphone to me.
Wait, what? Does exchanging LINE mean literally swapping our physical phones...?
“Eh...? What are you doing? I don't need your actual phone, Senpai...”
Taira-chan looked at the phone I offered with a bewildered expression. No, I'm bewildered too.
“Eh, no, I don't need your phone either, Taira-chan...”
We both tilted our heads.
“Um, I was handing mine to you, Konuma-senpai, so you could do the exchange for me...”
“I was going to ask you to do it for me, Taira-chan...”
Wait, could it be...?
““You don’t know how to exchange LINE IDs?””
...Good grief.
“Wait, aren't you a normie, Taira-chan? Like the type who has a hundred friends...?”
“Don't call me a normie! Stella-chan is my only friend in high school! Have you ever even seen me talking to anyone else?!”
“Well, we just met yesterday, so obviously I haven't...”
Taira-chan snapped back at me with a pathetic outburst.
“I'm a semi-shut-in loner whose hobby is internet patrolling!”
“Oh, I see...”
I thought she was definitely on the normie side based on her looks... Come to think of it, she did call herself a ‘bedroom musician loner’ in the studio yesterday.
“What about you, Konuma-senpai? You’re surrounded by all these beautiful normie senpais, yet you can't even exchange LINE? What’s up with that?!”
“Well, I usually just hand my phone to the other person and have them register it...”
“Who do you think you are?! Despite your looks, are you the domineering husband type?!”
T-True... No, I really just don't know how to do it...
“...This is a problem. We can’t exchange LINE like this...”
“Yeah...”
The two bedroom musician loners held their heads in their hands.
“Well, whatever. I’ll look it up by the next time we meet. I'm good at searching.”
“Oh, thanks...”
She did say her hobby was internet patrolling.
The fact that she calls it ‘patrolling’ instead of ‘surfing’ makes me feel a certain darkness.
“Anyway, after talking to Azuma-senpai, why can’t Stella-chan participate in the ensemble after all?”
“Ah—about that...”
“Don’t use normie words like ‘Sore-na’!”
Taira-chan puffed out her cheeks.
“Eh? No, well... a normie’s ‘Sore-na’ is a ‘Sore-na’ of agreement, right? Just now, I used ‘Sore-na’ to mean ‘About that matter,’ so the meaning is slightly different.”
“Enough with the complicated stuff!”
Sore-na! (Exactly!)
Still, how should I explain it? Azuma told me to tell Tsubame, ‘Tell her Stella will be playing the piano for the final day’s presentation, so look forward to that,’ but if I say it just like that, Taira-san will probably get angry...
“Well, for now, she said she’d let her participate in the ensemble for the final day’s performance.”
“Is that true?!”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Taira-chan’s eyes sparkled.
“You really care about Hoshikage-san, don't you, Taira-chan?”
“Mmm... well, I just can't forgive people who crush others’ talent.”
Come to think of it, she said that yesterday too.
That line was filled with such a strange grudge—or rather, a sense of reality—that I suddenly became curious about what made Taira-chan feel that way.
“Did something happen to trigger that?”
At that, Taira-chan’s expression turned serious.
“This might get a little long, is that okay...?”