Asakura wasn't coveting Nijika's beauty.
He was purely curious about what kind of structure that Bugles-shaped antenna on her head actually was.
Probably.
With Asakura lending a hand, Nijika quickly finished disassembling the entire drum kit, placing the drumheads, cymbals, and stands neatly on the floor of the break room by category.
"I'll help you carry them to the car." As a guy, Asakura stepped forward and took the initiative to speak.
With her right in front of him, he naturally couldn't use spells at will. However, after simply gauging the volume and weight of the drum kit, he assessed that with his physical fitness—which was one snake's strength greater than a normal person's—it wouldn't be a problem at all even if he moved them directly with his bare hands.
"No need, I'll do it myself." Nijika shook her head gently and cleanly rejected his goodwill.
As she spoke, the girl raised her arms and struck a simple, lively bodybuilding pose toward Asakura.
Then Asakura clearly saw the muscle lines bulging slightly beneath the girl's arms, leaving him thoroughly awed.
To be honest, the muscle on the girl's arms wasn't exaggerated, but it was firm and strong—for a girl of her age, it was already surprising enough.
"Don't underestimate the strength I built up from drumming at STARRY all year round and carrying Bocchi!" Nijika puffed out her chest, her tone carrying a bit of petty pride.
Asakura quietly added in his heart: It really must be hard work for you, considering how easily my girlfriend's brain crashes.
Having finished speaking, Nijika bent down and picked up the larger drum kit components beside her hand, turning around to walk out of the break room. Scanning the floor, Asakura noticed a few remaining loose parts and cymbals left behind, so he intended to pick them up as well and follow the girl over to that old car of hers, saving her another trip back.
Just as he picked up a few parts, a light burst of footsteps came from the other end of the hallway, a tiny figure approaching this way with brisk steps.
Catching a clear sight of the newcomer's appearance, Asakura took the lead in raising a hand to greet: "Isn't this Raana? Yo~"
The silver-haired girl had a mushroom hair style that also somewhat resembled a soft jellyfish cut. She unhurriedly raised her eyes and responded in her usual lazy tone: "Meow-halo."
Asakura paused for a second, his fingertips instinctively scratching his temple: "Did you use that phrase to greet people before... well, whatever."
Without dwelling further on the question, he asked in a natural tone: "Why haven't you visited Rabbit House lately? I even happened to develop a new matcha-flavored Rabbit Dango."
"Got caught." Kaname Raana narrowed her pretty heterochromatic eyes slightly, her voice light and airy: "Grandma made me come over as a representative or whatever... so annoying."
"I can tell." Asakura nodded very sincerely.
"Grandma said this is training for me," the girl added unhurriedly.
"Does saying just a single word count as training too..." Asakura couldn't help but roast.
"Compared to before, when I didn't even want to go on stage, it's already much better... that's what grandma said."
Your grandma spoils you way too much. Speaking of which, wasn't this naive and carefree personality of yours formed precisely because of that?
"Well, looking at the outcome, you left the deepest impression on the whole venue." Asakura looked at her, his tone extremely sincere. "Besides, compared to a sleepy, overly long speech, having just a single 'Meow' might actually be better."
Raana let out a soft "Mm" without rebutting, but her gaze crossed over Asakura's shoulder, landing on the drum kit parts held in his arms.
"What's that?" She raised her chin slightly and asked.
Asakura held the cymbals in his arms securely and spoke deadpan: "Golden cymbals."
He paused and added: "Have you watched Journey to the West?"
"Watched it, Tang Sanzang..." Raana nodded obediently, her eyes earnest. "An interesting woman."
Asakura was rendered speechless for a moment, unable to pick up the conversation for half a second.
"Alright, it's actually cymbals." Asakura gave up correcting her and confessed honestly. "A part of a drum kit."
"I can tell." Raana mimicked his earlier tone, nodding deadpan.
Amused by her little demeanor, Asakura raised his voice a few notches on purpose: "This isn't just any ordinary cymbal."
"Oh?" Raana instantly pricked up her ears, those heterochromatic eyes lighting up slightly like a cat seeing a teaser wand, showing an unmistakable interest.
"This is the cymbal from the drum kit of the band that won the victory in this joint Live and got the encore opportunity!" Asakura said solemnly.
"So many modifiers in front." A trace of blankness appeared on Raana's face—a confused cat face.
"From Kessoku Band." Asakura simplified the answer.
"A band I've never heard of." Raana raised her chin slightly—an arrogant cat face.
"Do you still remember Hitori from before?" Asakura reminded.
"An interesting woman." Raana gave an answer immediately.
Asakura silently summarized in his heart: It seems that in this cat girl's perception, Hitori and Tang Sanzang exist on the exact same level.
"That's the band that kid is currently in." Asakura explained, "Didn't you watch the performance earlier?"
"Watched it." Raana nodded.
"What impressed you the most?"
"The thank-you speech."
Asakura froze: "...?"
Coming to watch a band performance, only to be most impressed by the thank-you speech—did something go wrong with this logic?
"There didn't seem to be anything special about their thank-you words, right? Which line actually moved you..." Asakura pressed on.
"The line 'Kansha, kanki, ame alamode~'." Raana repeated clearly, word for word.
Asakura fell silent once more.
Hey, you weren't watching Kessoku Band's performance at all, were you?!
"A joke." The corners of Raana's mouth curved up slightly into a tiny arc, her lips forming a cute omega (Ω) shape.
From her light and airy tone, Asakura caught a trace of slyness, like a cat that had successfully nabbed a hamster, hiding a bit of smugness.
"So how did it actually feel?" He dropped his joking tone and asked seriously, "Kessoku Band's performance."
"It had a strange flavor." Raana tilted her head, giving a direct evaluation.
Asakura's gaze sized her up carefully.
Did she notice the influence of Hitori's special spell [Song], which is why she gave a performance evaluation that wasn't entirely positive?
Speaking of which, before this, Raana also seemed able to ignore Rabbit House's "Expel Bystanders" ability when it wasn't open, running straight up to the roof.
This child didn't have a single trace of mana fluctuation on her, yet she could always do things that defied common sense.
Asakura muttered quietly in his heart: Is she really not a witch hiding her identity?
Subtly sensing again, he still failed to capture any trace of magic from the girl.
"Then, setting aside the 'strange' part, what evaluation do you have for them?" Asakura changed the question.
"Pink Tsuchinoko..." Raana shook her head back and forth, drawing out her tone like singing, "Looking a bit decent now."
Hearing the hidden recognition in her words, Asakura couldn't help but chuckle softly.
This girl who looked completely uninterested in everything and remained forever lazy actually understood the weight of music better than anyone else. Perhaps precisely because of this, she was one of the very few who weren't directly influenced by [Song], yet could still perceive Hitori's true capability.
"What about the other three?" Asakura continued to ask.
"Boring women." Raana offered without hesitation.
The corners of Asakura's mouth twitched.
No need to be this straightforward.
"By the way." Kaname Raana suddenly raised her head, as if suddenly remembering something important, her eyes looking straight at Asakura, "You said earlier, there's a new... Matcha Daifuku?"
"It's matcha flavored Rabbit Dango," Asakura patiently corrected. "The shape is a rabbit, the filling is matcha cream, and the surface is sprinkled with a layer of matcha soybean flour. Plus, to increase the chewy, soft texture, a very excellent rice flour was specially chosen—"
"Want to eat." Raana grabbed Asakura's clothes corner and spoke directly, without a trace of politeness in her tone, as if this were the most natural wish in the world.
"Not pious enough." Asakura said deadpan.
"Onegai."
Raana immediately softened her voice, those beautiful heterochromatic eyes looking at him sparkingly, her expression focused and expectant.
Asakura was thoroughly amused by her greedy-cat appearance, nodding helplessly yet indulgently: "Alright, next time you come to the shop, I'll save one for you. However—"
"What?" Raana immediately looked up at him.
"Don't tell my employee that I can save a Rabbit Dango using 'Manager's Authority'." Asakura instructed with a serious face.
"Why?" Raana was puzzled.
"Because she will hang me on a streetlight." Asakura's tone was calm, as if stating a most ordinary fact.
Raana's eyes lit up slightly, sincerely admiring: "So rock and roll."
"Right."
Asakura had an agreeing face.
"The moment I came over, I heard Asakura-kun speaking ill of Kita."
Probably because Asakura hadn't returned for a long time, Nijika, who specifically doubled back to check on the situation, couldn't help but roast.
"This is called a capitalist's self-awareness." Asakura responded solemnly.
"Huh, this person is... the representative of the organizer from earlier?" Nijika noticed the cat beside Asakura.
Raana blinked, her heterochromatic eyes looking toward Nijika.
"Boring woman."
"Hey... isn't this child a bit rude?" The Bugles-shaped ahoge on Nijika's head wiggled, complaining unhappily to Asakura.
"Getting along with this child requires mastering a trick." Asakura taught Nijika by example, "Let me teach you a spell."
"Ah?"
"'Matcha sundae, my treat'—try saying that to her." Asakura said.
"Matcha sun... wait, isn't this just pure bribery?!" Nijika couldn't help roasting.
"I want two." The cat said.
"She actually shamelessly raised the price?!" Nijika was shocked.
"Thank you for your patronage." Asakura showed a business-like smile: "Please pick up your order at Rabbit House."
"Did you just settle it directly amid the confusion?!" Nijika roasted loudly: "That's completely forced buying and selling!"
Raana trotted off and vanished from their sight. Before Nijika could properly ask Asakura what on earth happened, Raana reappeared in front of the two with a guitar case on her back and pulling a suitcase.
"Let's go."
"What do you mean, is this child going to ride in our car to Rabbit House too?" Nijika knitted her brows: "Although I welcome her, whether it's the trunk or the space inside the car, shouldn't it be full already?"
"Don't worry," Asakura held that pile of drum kit parts and led the way ahead: "The space in a car is like cleavage—there's always some if you squeeze."
Except for a certain second Miss Yukinoshita.
When Asakura appeared beside the vintage car with Raana and expressed that she would also be catching a ride, Kita Ikuyo and Yamada Ryo both showed surprised expressions.
Naturally, they earned Raana's evaluation of "boring women."
Only Hitori, who was still going ababa-ababa, escaped the plight.
Although in Raana's eyes, she was no longer even considered a human, just a pink Tsuchinoko...
Asakura didn't bother with this trivial matter and went straight behind the car to open the trunk.
The stuff inside was almost packed to the brim, showing zero margin in terms of space.
In this situation, to be honest, putting in a few cymbals was already very forced.
"See, I didn't say nonsense, right?" Nijika said.
Then she saw Asakura walk up, rummage around a few times, and somehow manage to clear out a small space.
How was this done? The girl was stunned.
She had struggled just to stuff the instruments that were already here earlier, and she had confirmed that there was almost no optimizable space left...
"I told you, as long as you work on it a little seriously, you can always find a bit of margin." Asakura said deadpan.
"But in such a small space, putting in that guitar is already very difficult. Where is this child's suitcase going to be placed? On the roof?" Nijika asked next.
Then under her flabbergasted eyes, Asakura stuffed Raana's guitar and suitcase completely into that tiny space that was just cleared out.
How on earth was this done? Not only physics, but it feels like mathematics no longer exists!
"Don't mind it, reality is just like this. What eyes see can always deceive people." Asakura said solemnly: "Nijika, haven't you seen those optical illusion pictures? Like 'two lines are actually the same length', 'two color blocks are actually the same color', and the like."
"I-Is that so? Is this the same thing?"
Nijika was still somewhat suspicious, but had already been pushed into the back seat by Asakura holding her shoulders.
"Uwah, the four of us in the back seat were already a bit squeezed. Is adding this child really okay?"
Nijika said: "The way back will take a pretty long drive too. Forcing so many people to squeeze in a narrow space will definitely feel miserable..."
"Don't mind it, my car is much more spacious than you think."
As Asakura spoke, he let Raana enter the rear compartment. Sure enough, although there was still a feeling of being slightly squeezed, it seemed not much different from when there were four people earlier.
This made Nijika feel even more confused.
Rather, is it really possible for a regular sedan's back seat to squeeze in five people all at once? And that's with everyone sitting on seats without anyone sitting on anyone else...
"Rather than that kind of thing, I have some candies here, does everyone want to eat?"
Considering the way back was indeed a bit long and flying would be more convenient, Asakura thought for a moment and pulled out a handful of candies from his pocket.
"I won't stand on ceremony." Yamada Ryo took the candy and stuffed it directly into her mouth: "Just happened to lack sugar after performing."
"Ryo, you've never stood on ceremony, huh. Ah, thank you, Asakura-kun." Nijika, whose train of thought was interrupted, thanked him sensibly. Originally she seemed to subconsciously want to pocket the candy, but after being stared down intensely by Asakura, the girl ended up having to take one and stuff it into her mouth.
"A brand I haven't seen before, but it feels like it tastes delicious—" Kita Ikuyo happily accepted the candy and tasted it.
"C-Can I eat it too..." Hitori asked tremblingly. Originally when it was just Kessoku Band, it was fine since she had gotten a bit used to getting along with everyone, but after Raana joined, the girl's social anxiety seemed to flare up again.
"Meow." Raana looked at the green candy Asakura handed to her. Probably thinking it was a matcha-flavored candy, she swallowed it in one bite without even thinking.
After seeing the few people in the back seat accept the candies and start eating, Asakura handed one to Kawaragi on the passenger seat beside him.
"Kawaragi, here."
"Do I have to eat it too?"
"Mm."
"Alright... What kind of candy is this, the taste is actually quite not... hoo..."
Its name—
Instant Truancy Candy, Coma Flower Candy.