As his memories continued to awaken, Narumi Tōru became increasingly certain that the version of himself in this "future" was a seriously troublesome kid.
He loved rock music with absolute sincerity and passion, and he never once slacked off in practice. Yet his mediocre natural talent always left him trailing behind those geniuses who seemed to grasp everything the moment they touched it.
Even so, the boy would grit his teeth and keep practicing late into the night. Even if the effort-to-result ratio was terrible, even if it took nearly twice the time to catch up to those gifted prodigies, he never grew tired of it.
On the surface, he sounded like a diligent, admirable kid—but the constant tension in his nerves didn't just bring intense focus during practice. It also left behind a hollow emptiness once he finally relaxed.
Unfortunately, in this future, Narumi Tōru—who regarded academics as nothing but a "burden"—never learned healthy ways to release stress. Worse still, no one ever taught him how. By the time he realized it, he had already developed quite a few habits that couldn't exactly be called good ones.
Smoking, drinking, loitering in internet cafés. Staying up all night and eating just one or two fast-food meals a day.
And what was even worse—this was someone who, no matter how violently his emotions surged inside, refused to reveal even a shred of his true feelings to others.
It's not hard to understand how "I" ended up like this. A sensitive teenage boy stacked with the buffs of "craving recognition" and "lacking a sense of security" would naturally come to believe that handing their true feelings to someone else is the same as exposing a weakness—and that's not cool at all.
Over time, those twisted, complicated emotions slowly turned into a habit of saying one thing and meaning another. He would repeatedly push people away just to test how solid their bonds really were—even though that behavior could easily hurt others.
All things considered, the "Narumi Tōru" of this future was just a kid with no one to point him in the right direction, crashing headfirst through society—desperately starved for love, yet pretending he didn't care about anything at all.
The road to growing up sure is long and rough, kid.
[Already analyzing the formation of your own personality? You really are a natural role-playing gamer.]
The system's approving voice chimed in at just the right moment, pulling Narumi slightly out of his thoughts.
Flattery won't do you any good. If there's ever a customer review channel, I'm definitely docking points from this trash simulation.
Rolling his eyes internally at the system, Narumi slung his bass over his shoulder and stepped off the stage after the performance.
About three months ago, he had formed a band together with Hikigaya Hachiman, Hayama Hayato, and Totsuka Saika—classmates he'd known back when he was still attending high school.
After Narumi made the baffling declaration that "studying can't save the Japanese people" and promptly dropped out, the way other students looked at him became… complicated. Even so, these three came together through their friendship with Narumi and their shared love of music, forming an all-male high school band.
Keyboardist Hayama Hayato: the school's top-tier normie, adored by everyone and with a bright future ahead of him—who nevertheless happily accepted Narumi's invitation to form a band simply because he enjoyed playing the keys.
Drummer Totsuka Saika: completely opposite to his slender, delicate frame that instinctively awakened people's protective urges, his drumming skills were exceptional. Quite a few otaku guys who mistook him for a girl would deliberately come to watch their performances, only to leave disappointed after learning he was actually male.
Of course, a small portion of them got even more excited after learning his gender.
To this, guitarist and backing vocalist Hikigaya Hachiman had only one comment—
Peak.
He, too, was drawn in by Narumi's band invitation. Especially after hearing that some fans specifically enjoyed digging into the "chemistry" between a band's guitarist and drummer, he became even more convinced he'd made the right choice.
As a third-rate, unknown band, most of their gigs were limited to small livehouses as opening acts, or low-pay, mixed-set special appearances. Audience reactions were usually lukewarm at best.
Compared to other bands in the same category, these four high school boys honestly didn't have much competitiveness. They couldn't match the popularity of cute all-girl bands, nor could they stand toe-to-toe with veteran acts.
Incidentally, by "cute girl band," he meant the one that had just performed at the same livehouse—
Kessoku Band.
"Damn it, why does anything cute girls do automatically get applause?"
Hikigaya Hachiman downed his bottle of mineral water in one go and wiped the sweat from his face. His already sharp dead-fish eyes now looked downright aggressive.
It was the same audience, yet their reaction to Kessoku Band and their reaction to them were worlds apart.
"Haha, well, I guess cute girls are pleasing to watch no matter what they do."
Hayama, completely unconcerned with comparing wins and losses, smiled and casually tried to soothe Hikigaya, tilting his head back to drink most of his water with effortless charm.
"Damn it… why wasn't I born a cute girl… I want that kind of treatment too—where even if you mess everything up, people still say you're adorable."
Hikigaya clenched his fist indignantly. Beside him, Totsuka Saika just smiled gently and said things like "Good work, everyone~," tilting his head as he handed clean towels he'd prepared in advance to each of his three bandmates.
"Ugh… Saika, you're way better than those cute girls…!"
At Hikigaya's heartfelt outburst, Narumi instinctively nodded in agreement—only to realize a moment later that this train of thought was dangerous and quickly shook his head to clear it.
Seriously, simulated Hikigaya was basically identical to the real one… almost too real.
"By the way, let's keep the comments about Kessoku Band to a minimum. I think Ijichi-san said she's planning to treat both our bands to a meal later."
Hayama deftly shifted the topic. He couldn't honestly deny Totsuka's cuteness either—he was just worried that intra-band romance would be a nightmare to deal with.
"Eh~ eating at this hour? I should probably hurry home… otherwise my mom will worry…"
"I-I'm the same. My little sister's been texting me nonstop, telling me to buy her something to eat on the way home."
Totsuka and Hikigaya both explained why they couldn't make it. As for Hayama, with his strict household, being allowed to join a band at all was already a special exception—if he didn't head home soon, he might end up grounded.
"…Then I'll go as the representative."
Narumi shrugged helplessly, unsure what to do with these unreliable bandmates.
After tidying up and turning off the rehearsal room lights, Narumi headed toward the front desk to meet Ijichi-san—
"Ugh."
"Wah—!"
But just as he pushed open the door, he collided head-on with a lump of pink.
The curly-haired boy was only pushed back slightly, but the pink unidentified life-form staggered several steps backward, nearly plopping down on the floor.
"Ow ow ow… huh?"
The unsteady Gotō Hitori looked up—
And the moment their eyes met, it felt as though time itself slowed down by half a beat.
"What's wrong, Tōru-kun?"
Totsuka Saika, who had just caught up, peeked his head out, blinking curiously at the pink-haired girl who had barely regained her balance.
"Um… is that someone you know?"
He hadn't seen the true identity of the mango cardboard box from the stage.
"..."
Gotō Hitori looked like she wanted to say something, but after the initial shock, the panic and nervousness crashing over her made it impossible for her to get any words out.
After a long silence, Narumi—having received no answer—casually turned his head away.
He stepped off in the opposite direction, acting as if he didn't care at all about the pink-haired girl behind him, who had slightly opened her mouth only to stop herself, her expression frozen in hesitation.
"No. I don't know her."