If everyone coordinated a bit better, maybe this band performance could actually end successfully.
But having Hachiman hold her while she plays the drums...
"...Don't I already have a pink wristband? Why are you giving me something new?", Ijichi Nijika fell silent for a moment, holding the silver bracelet and the black collar in her hand, while with her other hand she waggled the pale, slender wrist that wore the pink wristband.
Although she'd been wearing the pink wristband and couldn't take it off, she hadn't secretly used it; its battery was full now, so she didn't need to worry about it dying halfway through.
"Because Marin put on the black collar," Hachiman said with a calm smile. "Also, the black collar has a new function now. It can charge by sunlight, so you never have to worry about it running out of power."
"?", Looking at the black collar in her hand, Nijika's mouth twitched.
She knew Marin liked to wear neck accessories, but now Marin had put on Hachiman's collar.
She probably can't take it off anymore, right?
"...Then what about this silver bracelet? Aren't these two the same thing?"
Nijika felt puzzled by Hachiman's move. The bracelet is the main unit, the wristband a sub-unit, but the experience should be basically the same, right?
Although she didn't want to wear either the main bracelet or the sub wristband.
If Marin and Yumiko both wore wristbands, and Hachiman demanded his reward, wouldn't her sensations be synchronized and shared to Marin and Yumiko?
Just thinking about that was terrifying.
"That's right, so this silver bracelet is the one for you, because there's one more problem with this plan."
Hachiman nodded, looking at Nijika the little angel as he continued to explain.
"There are three people in the band right now. I can hold you and coordinate with Bocchi, but I can't hold a third person at the same time."
"A third person..."
Nijika was stunned, then narrowed her eyes and turned to look at the bassist Yamada Ryou beside them.
Ryou, who'd been quietly grazing like background scenery, suddenly noticed that her friend Nijika's gaze had turned dangerous.
———
Yamada Ryou, Nijika's childhood friend, a hopelessly-cool ice beauty.
Although Ryou's family was well-off and ran a hospital, like some school idol Nishikino Maki, a rich girl, Ryou often spent money recklessly and without control, frequently borrowing money from Nijika, to the point where she really did sometimes have to eat grass from time to time.
"Ryou, pay me back."
Nijika walked expressionless to Ryou, who was still chewing tender grass as if she were totally detached and nothing concerned her. Nijika reached out her small hand.
"No money."
Ryou swallowed the grass in her mouth, licked her lips, and without hesitation shook her head at her friend's debt collection.
She needed to find a way to get through this month; there was no money to pay Nijika back.
"Then if you wear this, I won't nag you for the money."
Nijika didn't look surprised by Ryou's answer. A faint smile appeared on her face as she picked up the black empathy collar and offered it to Ryou.
"No way. I don't even know what this thing is, but Nijika, you tempting me to wear it? There's definitely something wrong!"
Ryou looked at the delicate, pretty black collar, and firmly refused.
She had been silently eating grass to fill her stomach a moment ago, but had also been listening to Hachiman and Nijika's conversation. When Hachiman said Nijika's classmate friend would wear this collar, Nijika's expression had turned very odd.
Even though she couldn't see anything special about the collar, and thought it looked like an ordinary neck accessory, Nijika's huge reaction, even bringing up the debt to try to get her to wear the black collar, clearly meant there was a big problem.
"We're a band. Bocchi and I both have similar things on; only you don't. Isn't that isolating you?"
After being refused, Nijika's face darkened, but she still held out the black collar and patiently tried to reason with Ryou, appealing to her emotions and logic.
"Isn't that even better? Why be the same as everyone else? Being unique is rock!", Ryou stroked her chin with forefinger and thumb in a thinking pose and retorted to Nijika.
If everyone else wears it and she doesn't, wouldn't that be more rock and more exciting.
"A wandering solitary soul doesn't need bonds, right?"
"Yeah yeah yeah! Exactly! Wandering solitary souls don't need bonds!", When Hachiman suddenly cut in with that line, Ryou's eyes lit up; she slapped Hachiman's shoulder hard and gave him a thumbs up.
She had thought Hachiman came here just to flirt when he arrived holding Bocchi and Nijika and started talking about other girls.
She hadn't expected Hachiman to have such a unique insight.
So that's it, thinking about it carefully, Hachiman holding Bocchi while going on stage is actually pretty rock.
"What does that have to do with rock? Stop abusing the word rock! And Hachiman, don't join in and make it worse!", Watching Ryou play cool and Hachiman echoing her, Nijika was nearly too drained to retort.
She'd forgotten... Ryou was that eccentric weirdo who liked to be a lone wolf. Being ostracized or isolated would make her think she was cool.
Although Ryou didn't actually suffer any school bullying, she simply preferred being alone and had no friends.
But Hachiman too, just when Nijika was trying hard to persuade Ryou to wear the collar and join the ensemble, he suddenly interrupted and messed up her rhythm.
Gotou Hitori, curled in Hachiman's arms and sneaking peeks at their conversation, watched the cool Ryou with the long bangs that covered her eyes, the teardrop beauty mark under her left eye, and her expressionless show of coolness, her eyes sparkled.
'So cool...'
'Misunderstood by the world, unbound, free...'
This is the rock band life she imagined.
However, although she and Ryou both had only one close friend, she could never be as carefree and cool as Ryou.
If Hachiman told her to wear the collar, she would have no second thoughts and would put it on immediately.
The silver bracelet on her wrist now was exactly like that, she quietly watched Hachiman put it on her a moment ago.
She had no unhappy thoughts; Hachiman was not only her only friend but fully supported her band activities, sending her pocket money every week, promising to take care of her in the future!
For someone as useless and gloomy as her to have such a good friend, if she weren't satisfied, she deserved to be kicked by a horse.
"Time's not on our side. There isn't much time left to practice. Ryou, if you don't want our first performance to flop, hurry up and put on the collar and see how the ensemble goes."
Nijika checked the time and, not wanting to dally with Ryou any longer, put on a serious face.
"Is this collar really that amazing? Put it on and it'll improve our coordination?"
Seeing Nijika no longer joking, Ryou straightened up too, though she still looked a bit baffled at the black collar.
This thing felt like something shady, but from Nijika's reaction, maybe it really could improve their.
"I don't really understand how it works either, but simply put it lets the body feel what someone else is feeling. We don't have coordination now; we can try this to quickly boost our mutual rapport."
Seeing Ryou soften, Nijika hurriedly explained and gave her friend two choices.
"If you refuse to wear the black collar, then wear that silver bracelet instead and have Hachiman hold you while you play bass."
"Pick one: wear the silver bracelet and have Hachiman hold you while you play bass, or wear the black collar and have me held by Hachiman while I play the drums."
"Then I'll wear the black collar. You sit, it's easier to hug."
Hearing that choosing the silver bracelet meant being held by Hachiman, Ryou immediately knew which to pick.
Even though Hachiman could be invisible, the thought of him holding her from behind while she played bass made her uncomfortable.
Anyway, Nijika and Hachiman were so close, she hadn't minded when he pinched her cheek earlier; being hugged once shouldn't be a problem.
"Ryou, why didn't you ask why Hachiman wants to hug me?"
Hearing Ryou choose without hesitation to let Nijika take the embarrassment, Nijika immediately grabbed the drumsticks and chased after Ryou.
"You're already prepared to sacrifice yourself, how can I refuse that sentiment."
Ryou had expected this. While running she protested.
She hadn't hesitated; she directly chose to let Nijika face the shame of being hugged by Hachiman alone.
But she hadn't forced Nijika; Nijika was willing to be held.
At first Nijika had said to urge her to wear the black collar, wasn't that clearly preparing to put on the silver bracelet herself?
Nijika had also called the shop-owner sister tsundere, but Nijika herself was a little tsundere too: brave in action, shy in admission.
"..."
Hearing Ryou's words, Nijika instinctively glanced at Hachiman and saw him holding Gotou Hitori and watching their teasing; her cheek flushed hot, and she raised the drumstick and chased Ryou even harder.
Back in the classroom she, Yumiko, and Marin had briefly experienced the effect of the empathy wristbands.
Under the premise that Hachiman only holds one person, whether it's the empathy wristband, the silver bracelet, or the black collar, there's not much difference: they all let everyone feel Hachiman beside them, allowing Hachiman to centrally coordinate the tempo of their performance.
But it's only a feeling. In reality, only one person needs to be physically close to Hachiman. Someone who needs to be hugged by him throughout the performance is enough.
To improve the band's performance, asking Ryou to wear the empathy collar was already a little embarrassing; they naturally couldn't make two strangers like Ryou and Hachiman hug each other.
However, her willingness to sacrifice didn't mean Ryou could accept it unashamedly and comfortably.
Finally, in the small recording studio Ryou had nowhere to run. Gasping for breath, she was caught by Nijika, and after Nijika tapped her on the small head a few times with a drumstick, the slender neck was fitted with the black collar.
"Nijika... Is this thing really so amazing it can improve ensemble coordination? I don't feel anything even after putting it on."
"Because it's not activated yet. Listen, this is the empathy on/off switch, and this is the switch to change the empathy target."
Nijika pointed out the hidden buttons on the empathy collar to Ryou, hand over hand. Even though this was her first time touching the empathy collar, thanks to her experience with the empathy wristband, she quickly figured out how to use it.
"I still don't feel anything. Hey Nijika, what are you doing?"
Ryou looked puzzled at Nijika and was about to ask more when she felt Nijika put the silver bracelet on her own wrist and pinch her own pale arm hard.
At the same time, Ryou felt pain in her own arm.
"Basically like this: this collar can transmit the sensations from me and Bocchi to you. But the black collar you wear only shares our feelings; it can't mutually share sensations like the silver bracelet that Bocchi and I wear."
After demonstrating the collar's effect, Nijika continued explaining.
"Of course, I've actually only used the empathy wristband once, and this is my first time wearing the silver bracelet today."
Even if Yuina, Minami and the others wanted her to try the empathy wristband tonight, she wasn't completely willing. After all, Hachiman was the boy Yumiko liked.
But today there was no choice. Hachiman had asked so many people to come cheer for them; if their performance sucked, she'd be embarrassed in front of everyone.
"So that's what the empathy collar does..."
Ryou stared at Nijika, who maintained distance yet could transmit feelings without any touch, utterly amazed.
'Is magic really this strong?'
'Not just invisibility magic, there's this kind of amazing magic too.'
No wonder demi-humans are rare in the world, yet the elf princess and the mermaid idol could gain such huge popularity and so many fans.
Suddenly realizing something, Ryou's eyes shone as she looked at Nijika.
"If I turn on the empathy collar, when you eat, will I also be able to eat with you?"
She was worrying how many more days she'd have to eat grass this month to get by. Eating too much grass would probably land her in the infirmary.
She hadn't expected the collar to be so amazing! If so, she wouldn't have to worry about food anymore!
"...It only transmits my feelings, making you feel as if you're experiencing it. You still have to eat. Ryou, control your spending, at least leave some money for food and don't always spend it all on instruments."
Nijika rolled her eyes at her friend's thought process and ruthlessly punctured Ryou's idea.
Although the transmitted sensation can feel real. You might think your feet are actually wet, in reality your socks are still dry, and when you turn off the empathy you'll find nothing actually happened.
Even if Ryou could turn on the collar and share the taste of food with Nijika, her stomach would still be hungry and she'd still feel bad.
Hmm... if she stopped worrying about saving money, Ryou's idea might not be so bad after all.
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