Just then, a phone ringtone suddenly rang out. Asai Yu picked it up and saw it was the boss calling.
Boss? Which boss?
"This—this is my supervisor from my customer service part-time job."
The moment she heard part-time job, Togawa Sakiko instantly perked up.
Ah, so probably some low-level manager.
"When was the salary paid?" Asai Yu asked.
"Three days ago," Togawa Sakiko answered immediately.
"Hello?"
Asai Yu answered the call.
"Togawa, you didn't show up at the company at all today. Are you not planning to work anymore?!"
The voice on the other end was clearly suppressing its anger.
"I quit. Whoever wants to do it can do it."
With that, Asai Yu hung up without giving the other side any chance to respond.
Customer-service Little Sakiko: successfully killed.
Even though she'd already known how this would end, seeing it happen with her own eyes still made Togawa Sakiko's heart ache faintly.
"Guh…! I worked so hard to land that customer service job…!"
Her whole world felt gray.
"Don't lose heart. All roads lead to Rome. There are plenty of ways to make money—no need to hang yourself from just one tree."
Asai Yu figured he could more or less understand Sakiko and offered a bit of comfort.
Then, naturally, he followed up with a question.
"You're pretty good at composing and arranging music, right?"
Hearing that, Togawa Sakiko replied weakly,
"I guess I can do it a bit… why?"
"So you never thought about selling your own songs to make money? Writing songs for small bands, for example. If your level's high enough, you could even sell to major companies."
Asai Yu made the suggestion.
Honestly speaking, why didn't Dai-Sakiko-sensei sell songs in the original storyline?
Her composition skills were absolutely at that level—she'd even written something on the caliber of Haruhikage.
"Selling songs…?"
This was a path Togawa Sakiko had never even considered.
After being reminded like this, her thoughts suddenly cleared—as if she'd been searching everywhere for her phone, only to realize it had been in her hand the whole time.
Yu was completely right. If she sold her compositions, with her skill level, maybe she wouldn't get rich—but making a steady living would be easy.
She might even be able to cover Tsukinomori's tuition.
At that thought, Togawa Sakiko lifted her head slightly. Her eyes lit up, and the future suddenly looked bright.
Of course, she couldn't let her joy show too clearly, so she spoke up in her mind instead.
"This suggestion actually sounds pretty good, desu wa."
She even dropped a desu wa.
Hearing Togawa Sakiko herself say desu wa, Asai Yu felt a bit unreal.
Sakiko, meanwhile, didn't notice at all and continued asking,
"So what do we do next?"
"Right now it's the era of girl bands. There are tons of small, unknown bands out there. For them, creating an original song is really difficult—and naturally, their presence is pretty weak."
Asai Yu glanced at the time. There were only two hours of experience time left.
"Do you know which live houses Tsukinomori students usually go to?"
"Um… probably CiRCLE or RiNG? I haven't really paid attention for a long time…"
Togawa Sakiko sounded unsure.
Then she asked,
"What does this have to do with Tsukinomori?"
"Of course it does. Tsukinomori is a prestigious school—those students have money. So our targets are Tsukinomori students who've formed small, unknown bands."
Asai Yu answered.
Hearing that, Togawa Sakiko felt it made perfect sense.
She'd interacted quite a bit with Tsukinomori students before—most of their allowance alone could absolutely crush her current self.
"Anyway, let's check out RiNG first."
After a few seconds of thought, Asai Yu decided.
RiNG?
Several familiar faces suddenly flashed through Togawa Sakiko's mind. She panicked and blurted out,
"How about CiRCLE first?!"
Did Asai Yu not understand a girl's little worries?
She was obviously afraid of running into Crychic's former bandmates.
But that was Togawa Sakiko's fear—what did it have to do with him?
"RiNG."
Asai Yu didn't give her any room to refuse.
After a short while, he arrived at RiNG's entrance and strode inside without hesitation.
Inside his body, Togawa Sakiko was extremely tense, scanning the surroundings through his field of vision, silently praying she wouldn't run into any of Crychic's former members.
Because the one controlling her body right now wasn't her—she had no idea what kind of sparks might fly if they met.
They reached the second-floor café.
School was already out, so the café was fairly crowded. Even so, Asai Yu's gaze immediately locked onto the girl at the counter.
Long black hair, a perfectly placed beauty mark under her eye, and a perpetually serious expression—
It was Crychic's former member, Shiina Taki.
Clearly, Togawa Sakiko noticed her too.
At the same time, Shiina Taki looked over. Her brows instantly knit together.
This is bad.
Is her persona, her life, her future—all going to be destroyed right here?!
Togawa Sakiko squeezed her eyes shut, not daring to look at what would happen next.
…But she couldn't help peeking anyway.
Closer.
They're getting closer.
Togawa Sakiko held her breath. She felt like she was about to die.
Hearing the strange, incoherent noises echoing in his head, Asai Yu felt a bit speechless.
He walked up to Shiina Taki and asked calmly,
"Is Matsugi-san here?"
Hearing that, Shiina Taki looked confused at first, then answered,
"She stepped out for a bit. She should be back soon."
"Thank you."
Asai Yu replied politely.
His main goal was to ask Matsugi Ririko to help with some promotion—trying to find clients on his own would just be too slow.
As he was thinking this, a small figure suddenly came up the stairs.
Short gray hair, and an aura like a small animal—
It was Takamatsu Tomori.
The members of the "god-tier band" were almost all here.
Seeing this, Asai Yu couldn't help feeling a bit excited.
Obviously, Takamatsu Tomori noticed him too. Her eyes went blank for a moment.
"L-little… Sakiko…"
Murmuring to herself, she hurried over and stopped in front of Asai Yu. Complex emotions welled up in her eyes.
"Little Sakiko… long time no see. Um…"
"Yeah. Long time no see."
For now, Asai Yu had no intention of getting deeply involved with these band members. He just gave a normal, polite response.
At that moment, Matsugi Ririko's voice came from downstairs.
"Sorry, I have something to take care of. Excuse me."
With that, Asai Yu turned to head downstairs.
But just then, Takamatsu Tomori grabbed his sleeve.
"Um… could we… talk for a bit?!"
"Maybe next time."
Asai Yu declined.
He had zero interest in getting dragged into the band vortex. Once you stepped in, you'd only sink deeper and deeper—staying on the edge and OB-ing (observing from the sidelines) was more than enough.