"Minasan! Konbanwa~!"
Wearing an extravagant, frilly princess dress, Shu held the microphone with his pinky extended, bouncing joyfully under the spotlight. He winked playfully at the cheering crowd, his eyes sparkling with star-shaped highlights.
Beside "her," the elegant Miss Green Lily and the cold, bespectacled Auntie Yang, both dressed in matching idol attire, were interacting with the crowd below, each playing perfectly into their respective character archetypes...
"Noooo!! Make it stooooop!!"
Shu let out an agonizing wail, drawing the bewildered stares of everyone around him.
"It seems Shu just imagined something incredibly horrifying," Kiana remarked, completely lacking any self-awareness. She actually looked somewhat surprised as she watched Shu groaning in mental agony.
"Ahem..." Fortunately, not everyone was entirely oblivious.
After Shu unleashed his terrifyingly vivid and imaginative howl of despair, Bronya and the others finally regained their senses and immediately began shooting down Kiana's idea.
"Y-You guys are rejecting it?!" Seeing everyone cleanly and decisively abandon her to support Shu, Kiana instantly adopted the expression of a defeated puppy.
She wasn't upset that they chose Shu over her; her sorrow stemmed from the fact that not a single person supported the "girl band" idea.
Why not? Girl bands are beautiful!
Everyone hangs out, goofs off, shares their innermost feelings, and then performs together at the School Festival, the Fireworks Festival, the Daihasei Festival...
And during these events, we trigger a specific member's unique character event! Then we all work together to help her, enter her heart, happily wrap dumplings together, and become best friends who share everything, forging deep, unbreakable bonds...
And, you know, play some music on the side.
Isn't that wonderful?!
Why is no one standing behind me?!
"Because you don't actually want to form a girl band. You just want an excuse to force everyone to hang out and do activities together," Shu, having finally recovered from his nightmarish hallucination, bluntly exposed Kiana's true motive.
Kiana's face flushed bright red, and she stammered.
"W-Was it that obvious?"
Everyone nodded in unison. "Incredibly obvious!"
It couldn't be more obvious. Putting aside the fact that Kiana's fantasy of "School Festivals + Fireworks Festivals" was a classic trope found exclusively in Japanese slice-of-life anime... what the heck was a Daihasei Festival?!
And what was that about "special character events"?
Kiana, are you trying to form a band, or are you trying to construct a real-life dating sim starring yourself?!
"Ugh..." Kiana hung her head. "But... I really think living like that would be wonderful... And it wouldn't interfere with our studies, right?"
Shu was speechless.
He honestly couldn't argue with that.
Even though the Fire Moth School wasn't on the verge of bankruptcy and didn't need them to become idols to save it, simply forming a band as a hobby was an activity that perfectly aligned with their desire for a normal, peaceful life.
Gathering together after class, working toward a shared goal, and receiving positive feedback upon success...
It was practically perfect!
Thinking about it that way, Shu suddenly felt that maybe it was a good idea.
Wait, is it?!
Dammit, the memetic virus is still trying to infect me!
"Actually..."
Just as the atmosphere grew slightly awkward, Mei, who had remained silent, suddenly spoke up.
She looked at Kiana, her eyes gentle and indulgent.
"Kiana's idea is a bit... unconventional, but it's not entirely without merit."
"Mei?!" Shu's eyes widened. He couldn't believe his ears.
"What I mean is," Mei explained with a smile, "everyone really hasn't had a chance to relax like this in a long time.
"If we can find something we all enjoy doing together outside of our busy studies and work, it really might help relieve a lot of stress."
Mei, do you have any idea how much stress your words are causing me right now?!
"Besides..." Mei suddenly turned to look at Shu, a hint of slyness creeping into her usually gentle expression.
"Shu, the reason you reacted so strongly earlier is because you care about everyone, isn't it? If it was truly just a stupid idea, you wouldn't care at all. You would have just said, 'I'm not participating,' right?"
Shu's face went pale.
"Oh, that's right!" Seele suddenly clapped her hands together, looking as if she had just had an epiphany. "Big Brother Shu could have easily avoided this entire situation just by saying he wouldn't join the band! But he didn't! He only rejected the idea itself and tried to change Sister Kiana's mind..."
"In other words, the idea of 'leaving the group' is actually a harder boundary for Shu to cross than the idea of joining a girl band?!" Theresa immediately followed up on Seele's logic, also feigning sudden realization.
Theresa, your acting is way worse than Seele's. Anyone can tell you figured that out ages ago.
"I..." Shu felt that people could not, or at least should not, be this completely shameless.
At this exact moment, he needed to defend himself. Otherwise, these girls would genuinely believe they were incredibly important to him and start using that fact to "blackmail" him into doing whatever they wanted.
"Admit it, Shu! You simply cannot bear the thought of leaving everyone! You'd even stoop to joining a girl band just to stay with us!"
Bronya didn't care about subtle nudges or tactical retreats. While everyone else was dropping hints, Bronya chose to aggressively detonate the truth bomb right in his face!
Forget the intro, forget the bridge, forget the outro.
Let the girl band burn!
Smack.
Shu raised his hand and silently placed it on top of Bronya's head. Bronya immediately stared straight ahead, crossed her arms, and pretended to be a quail, not uttering another word.
Having manually muted Bronya, Shu lightly tapped the handle of his parasol against his forehead, desperately trying to think.
Okay, let's table the dark, depressing topic of 'leaving the group' for a second. Let's logically consider this: if they actually form a girl band, what role would I, a male, play in it?
His brain felt rusty; the gears were refusing to turn.
I can't seriously wear a dress and perform 'Moon Halo' on stage with Kiana and the others, right?
Wait, didn't Kiana say they were going to hide their identities? Does that mean I can just use a VTuber avatar? If that's the case, it might actually be acceptable... well, relatively speaking.
But what avatar should I use? Do I sculpt a brand-new anime girl model? Or do I just reuse 'Stelle' or 'Caelus'?
But plenty of people know there are two versions of that model. Am I going to take up two slots in the band by myself?
Or maybe one performs on stage while the other acts as a backup, or better yet, a manager...
...?
Wait a minute. When did 'Manager' become an option?! A manager doesn't need to go on stage, doesn't need to sing, and definitely doesn't need to show their face in public!
"Shu." Just as Shu realized this glorious loophole, Kiana's voice drifted over, laced with a piercing, accusatory tone.
"You weren't honestly planning on performing on stage with us, were you?"
A cold sweat instantly broke out across Shu's entire body.