During Ritsu Tainaka's chat with the girl, she learned her name—Tae Hanazono.
A student at Hanasakigawa Girls' Academy, Tae works part-time at LIVEHOUSE SPACE and is currently looking for people to form a band.
Ritsu's social skills proved effective, quickly gathering information in just a few minutes.
Of course, that may also be because Tae didn't seem to intend on hiding anything.
While they were talking, Tsumugi Kotobuki and Yui Hirasawa arrived as well.
After saying goodbye to Tae Hanazono, the group officially began their light music club's shopping trip.
"I asked Mom for a 50,000 yen advance on my allowance. That should be enough to buy a guitar, right?"
"Yeah, it should be just about enough! For a beginner, a 50,000-yen guitar is already pretty decent!"
"Good, I need to be careful and budget it wisely!"
Despite saying that, Yui's eyes were quickly drawn to a nearby secondhand shop.
In Japan, shopping for clothes at secondhand stores isn't considered embarrassing—students often go because the items are stylish and affordable.
Sometimes, you can even find amazing pieces by chance.
So, when Yui was distracted by the cute clothes, no one said much. Ritsu and the others exchanged helpless glances and followed her in.
Only Byakuya, however, felt a sudden wave of fear—he had remembered the terror of shopping with girls.
Girls' shopping sprees were often aimless.
If they saw something they liked or thought was interesting, they would go in to have a look… then spend half the day browsing—only to leave empty-handed.
They even played the UFO catcher machine for a while.
Yet they could keep this up for hours—sometimes even a full day of shopping!
Even Byakuya felt that he couldn't match their stamina.
Besides clothing stores, they also stopped by a plushie shop, sampled freshly baked bread at a bakery, and burned through thousands of yen at an arcade…
But in the end, after the last coin disappeared into a claw machine with no reward, everyone gave up.
"Want me to give it a shot?"
Byakuya asked as he inserted a coin. "Is this the frog you want?"
"Yeah yeah yeah~ that's Kuwata! And it's a limited edition Kuwata too!"
No one had high expectations for Yui's aesthetic taste anymore.
But even this frog was named Kuwata?
Byakuya couldn't help but wonder—Would that one railgun-loving girl like it?
Despite the machine's weak claw, Byakuya skillfully snagged six different versions of Kuwata for 600 yen.
Apparently, they were part of a collaboration with a certain Onmyoji franchise.
Byakuya kept the Shuten-dōji Kuwata, while Yui naturally favored the Yoto-hime Kuwata.
The other three girls picked Kaguya-hime, Tamamo-no-Mae, and Higanbana.
The remaining Aoandon Kuwata was a gift for Sora—whether she'd like it or not, who knew.
Carrying their prizes from the arcade, the group cheerfully made their way to a café for cold drinks and ice cream, grabbing lunch along the way.
Shimokitazawa is known not only for its vintage stores but also for its curry restaurants.
They visited one such café that also served curry and was covered by a photobook-style sunshade.
After tasting what was rumored to be Shimokitazawa's best curry, Yui happily plopped into the booth seat and sighed in contentment.
"It was sooo good~ though still not quite as good as your cooking, Byakuya!"
"Huh? Byakuya's cooking is that good?" Ritsu asked, intrigued. "Now that I think about it, we've never had lunch together, have we?"
"Ehehe~ Byakuya's cooking is amazing! That's why we always eat in the classroom!"
"What! That's so mean! You've been secretly enjoying gourmet lunches without us!"
"No we haven't!" Yui protested. "We ate with Kanade and the others too!"
Ritsu groaned dramatically, while Tsumugi seemed to have an epiphany.
"So the delicious smell that comes from the clubroom every noon was from you, Byakuya-kun?"
"Oh yeah! That food in the microwave always smelled amazing!"
Faced with the girls' sparkling eyes, Byakuya sighed in defeat.
"Alright, alright, I get it. I'll make something for everyone in the clubroom next week."
"But I'll be taking Monday off—I have some things to handle at Totsuki. Let's aim for Tuesday instead."
"As long as we get to eat your food, any day is fine!"
The mention of Totsuki didn't surprise the girls much—Byakuya had already mentioned that he was enrolled there on a cross-enrollment basis.
So the idea of him commuting between two schools, while impressive, wasn't something they found unbelievable.
If anything, it explained just how his culinary skills had gotten so refined.
"We'll be waiting then!"
After chatting for a while longer, the group finally remembered the main purpose of today's trip.
They headed to a musical instrument store, where Yui and the others immediately rushed toward the guitar section.
Byakuya, however, was drawn to another area—filled with classical instruments:
Not only traditional Japanese instruments like the shamisen and shakuhachi, but also flutes, erhus, pipahs, and more.
Yet above all these, one instrument stood out—
A red-and-gold suona sitting proudly behind the counter.
To some, the suona might seem fit only for weddings or funerals—but to Byakuya, that was just an outdated stereotype.
If he played it at an EDM festival, would anyone dare say it wasn't cyberpunk ghost-core?
The suona only cost a few tens of thousands of yen—easily affordable.
In addition, he also picked up a chromatic harmonica and an erhu—both instruments he had learned before.
Once his selections were made, he went to look for the others—only to find them all crowded around a particular guitar, its price tag reading 150,000 yen.
Judging by the sparkle in Yui's eyes, it seemed she had finally found her destined instrument.
Byakuya didn't interrupt the girls' passionate discussion.
When Ritsu suggested that they all take part-time jobs to help Yui buy the guitar, Byakuya also voted in favor.
It was a perfect opportunity to strengthen the bonds within the Light Music Club—he had no intention of spoiling it by simply paying out of his own pocket.
With that decided, the group headed to their final destination for the day—LIVEHOUSE SPACE.
A sacred ground for all-girl bands—many have performed on its stage.
Tickets usually sold out quickly, but thanks to Ritsu's early planning, everyone had secured entry.
Inside, they spotted Tae Hanazono behind the bar, already changed into her work uniform.
After exchanging greetings, the five friends claimed their drinks with the ticket stubs and sat down, waiting for the live performance to begin.
As Ritsu looked around at the crowd, her eyes sparkled with ambition.
"Hey, Zero! Do you think one day our band could draw this many fans?"
"R-Ritsu! You're not saying you want to perform here too, are you? Th-that's impossible! So many people!"
"What's the problem? Our goal is to play at the Budokan, after all!"
"Wait, what? Since when was that our goal?" Byakuya asked.
"Just now!" Ritsu declared confidently.
"So, Byakuya-kun, how about it? Let's aim for the Budokan together!"
"...Nope."
----------
T/N:
Access 30 chapters in advance on my Patreon:patreon.com/multiversalfeast [Images Included]
You'll also get 5 extra chapters just for being a free member!