Iruma-san wants to win the Akutagawa Prize

"Ah, it's okay. Shibuya is a very interesting place. Have fun."

"Okay! Let's go together next time, Sushi! Love you!"

After responding subconsciously, Su Shi was gently hugged by the girl in front of him.

Then, unknowingly, she was the only one left in the classroom after school on weekends. In the first week of the third year of junior high school and graduation season, only Nagasaki Suyo was left alone, becoming a lonely and lost child.

She wandered aimlessly in Ikebukuro for a long time. When she saw the band's performance video playing on the exterior of a large building, she suddenly thought, if she joined a band, would she have friends who she could always be with?

Will she be able to find the shelter she expects?

With a hint of expectation, just like she had always expected in the past, Su Shi began to research the band's affairs.

By the time I got home, it was already 7 o'clock in the evening.

[Bassists are quite scarce in many bands, so it would be much easier to form a band if you can play bass.]

Just because of this post, Nagasaki Suyo quickly ordered a bass that looked pretty good. Then she lay on the bed and spent the whole night looking up the information on forming a band and various bass practice tutorials.

At 9:50 p.m., Nagasaki Suyo checked her social media for the last time.

Sure enough, no one responded to her message. Perhaps everyone was preparing for a wonderful weekend tomorrow.

At 10 o'clock in the evening, Nagasaki Suyo threw down her mobile phone, curled up, hugged the cold quilt tightly, and fell asleep facing the bustling city.

For modern people, going to bed early and getting up early is actually a difficult habit to develop.

But for people like Nagasaki Suyo, going to bed early and getting up early is like being a creature that only moves at night. It is an instinct to seek benefits and avoid harm.

Then she had a dream. In the dream, she was rescued by a handsome but strange-behaving boy. Of course, it is not appropriate to say that she was rescued. In fact, she was not saved in the dream because the boy's flying pounce prevented her from being knocked to death on the spot. Instead, half of her body was crushed by the wheels, and she struggled painfully on the ground for a long time.

At 6 o'clock in the morning, Nagasaki Suyo, covered in sweat, woke up from her dream. She was gasping for breath. The pain in the dream seemed to be inflicted on her body in reality.

But it was just a nightmare, a nightmare she had had countless times on lonely nights in the past.

Lonely people who sleep alone must not watch bloody films or horror films before going to sleep, because when they wake up from a nightmare and find that they are indeed alone, the feeling of powerlessness is too deep.

Hua la la la——

The shower head sprayed a constant stream of warm water.

It took a long time for Nagasaki Suyo to return to normal. She looked at herself in the mirror. There was no sparkle in her beautiful gray-blue eyes. She looked like a writer who had been unhappy for a long time.

Drops of water slid down from the tips of her hair and accumulated into small puddles on the ground.

But for Nagasaki Suyo, last night's dream might not be all bad.

In her dream, she remembered clearly the boy who pounced on her and then ascended to heaven like a doll the next moment.

She smiled slightly in the mirror.

If only there was someone willing to come and save her at this moment.

Nagasaki Suyo thought so.

Then the door of the house was opened.

"Su Shi..."

It was her mother who came back.

"Are you showering?"

"Yes, Mom, I'll be right out. You can take a rest first. Just hang your clothes at the door. I'll come and help you tidy them up later."

"Ah! So good, Sushi, you're home... It's okay, I've only been back for a few hours and I'll be busy again soon. Come out quickly and let mommy hold you!"

In a flash, Nagasaki Suyo became gentle, as always.

In fact, Mrs. Nagasaki didn't even stay for an hour. After resting for a while and lying on Nagasaki Suye's thighs and acting coquettishly for a while, she left immediately because of a phone call.

Then, perhaps because of the band's plan, or perhaps because of the frightening dream last night, Nagasaki Suyo decided to leave this cold home and go to Ikebukuro.

11 Senior's Weird Interview

Hibiki Iruma never thought that he would be traveling the same way as the girl with whom he had just had an embarrassing experience. They even entered Ring together. He only felt slightly relieved when they entered the staff room.

"Great! You must be Iruma-san who came for the interview today!"

But it is a big mistake to think that you can feel at ease after arriving here.

The next moment he saw a very energetic girl in work clothes who turned on the light and jumped in front of him as if she was lying in ambush in the room.

Of course, the word "jump" may not be able to accurately describe the actions of the girl in front of me.

She seemed to fall from the ceiling, then did a backflip and landed in front of him.

Very scary, very elegant, very energetic, and very cute pose.

Iruma Hibiki didn't even react at first. With a series of dong, dong, dong, dong sounds, the girl was already standing in front of him.

"Yes, yes, I'm Hibiki Iruma. We've been in touch via email before."

"Excellent! Accepted! My name is Kasumi Toyama! I'm your senior!"

"Togawa-senpai..."

"Let me introduce you to Sa-Aya! I'll leave the front desk duties for the next day to you and Sa-Aya!"

"Kasumi, have you properly interviewed the new people who came to help you?"

Faced with the outrageous situation before him, Iruma Hibiki only felt relieved when he heard the reliable voice asking outside the door. Otherwise, he would really think that he had come to work in some strange place.

"The interview is over! He's a new guy who looks very strong! Anyway, he's accepted! I'll go help out inside (八卄〃) III⊙? 韭O器、有著罩吓吓了了Saya, I'll leave this to you!"

“Ah… really…”

Only after opening the door did Iruma Hibiki see the girl outside.

"My name is Yamabuki Saya. I'm really sorry to trouble you, Kasumi. The boss is not here today, so we are responsible for the part-time job interview. Kasumi has to do it no matter what..."

"It's okay, Togawa-senpai looks very energetic, hahahaha..."

Iruma Hibiki's laughter was a little fake. His original intention was to ease the awkwardness, but unexpectedly, this laughter seemed to make it even more awkward.

"Anyway, let's try the front desk job first."

Then, accompanied by a sigh from Yamabuki Saya, who had a red bean paste-colored ponytail, Hibiki Iruma was assigned to the front desk to check admission tickets and hand out drink coupons to guests.

After a period of teaching and cooperation, Iruma Hibiki finally got the hang of it. He and Yamabuki Saya finished the busiest time near noon together.

It was only at this time that Hibiki Iruma realized that Kasumi Togawa seemed to be in charge of the guidance, and it seemed that there was more than one band performing in the Ring today.

"How did Iruma-san come up with the idea of working part-time at Ring?"

There was a lot of intense drumming coming from the performance room, which could be heard even outside the well-soundproofed performance room door. Perhaps she noticed that Iruma Hibiki, who was working part-time here for the first time, was a little nervous, so Yamabuki Saya planned to chat with her and let her junior relax a little.

"Hmm... how should I put it... at first, I didn't get along very well with everyone at school, and I was kind of looking forward to the band thing, so I decided to come and take a look. But unexpectedly, before I even started working part-time here, a classmate I knew asked if I wanted to form a band."

"Hey, congratulations. How's your band going now, Iruma-san?"

"Actually, there are only about two people at the moment. I'm still a beginner, and I'm a little worried that I might not be able to learn guitar well..."

After hearing Hibiki Iruma's description, Yamabuki Saya smiled even more tenderly. She propped up her face and looked at the somewhat empty waiting area, then said in a voice tinged with nostalgia:

"I don't think you need to worry too much about whether you can learn it well. Our band's lead singer, Kasumi, whom you just met, didn't know anything at the beginning either."

"Wait you are!"

It was only later that Hibiki Iruma realized that the person in front of him, whether it was Kasumi Togawa or Saya Yamabuki, was actually a member of a famous girl band.

"Ah, I've been recognized."

Yamabuki Saya smiled lightly, with a helpless smile on her face, as if she was doing business.

"When we put the part-time job posting out there, we were immediately flooded with thousands of emails from fans. It's great to have someone like you, Iruma-san, who's here purely for a part-time job."

With a hint of distressed complaint, Yamabuki Saya shook her head.

"Is it too late for me to say I'm your fan now?"

"It's still in time, but more importantly, isn't it Iruma-san's band? Two people, a vocalist and a guitarist?"

……

Iruma Hibiki fell silent. In fact, he didn't even know where Ijichi Kouka was.

Ijichi Hongxia didn't say anything, and he didn't ask...

The only thing he probably knew was that Yamada Ryo was the bassist.

To some extent, guys like him have made a very arrogant mistake from the very beginning.

"Well...actually I don't know what instrument the other guy plays."

"How about we discuss this? I wish you all a successful performance on stage. If you're performing at the Ring, I can help with the registration."

"Thank you, Yamabuki-senpai..."

"You're welcome. I'm looking forward to your performance."

Yamabuki Saya smiled gently at Iruma Hibiki, and their chat ended at this time. With the end of a song, the front desk became busy again.

"Um, please tell me, did you guys just talk about forming a band?"

After another busy break, Iruma Hibiki was spoken to, but this time when he looked up, he saw the girl who had had some awkward contact with him on the road before.

"I'm Nagasaki Suyo, a third-year student at Tsuki no Mori Junior High School. I'm currently looking for bandmates to form a band with. I don't play bass yet, but I have practiced cello for a while and have experience playing in an orchestra."

……

As if seeing that Iruma Hibiki was silent for a while, Yamabuki Saya took the initiative to walk up.

"Iruma-san, how about moving your break time 20 minutes earlier?"

"Thank you, Yamabuki-senpai."

"You're welcome, just seize the opportunity."

Yamabuki Saya smiled at Iruma Hibiki, then watched him and Nagasaki Motoyo walk towards the round table on the other side.

In fact, Hibiki Iruma cannot be said to be the boss of this band.

And after all, did he and Ijichi Hongka really form a band?

Iruma Hibiki could confirm that, at least for now, he probably couldn't represent Ijichi Kouka's thoughts, but...

In fact, he had already promised Ichichi Hongxia about the band matter.

At present, he just still has doubts about himself.

not to mention--

Who knows, this encounter might be the only chance in his life to form a band?

With complicated thoughts, Iruma Hibiki looked at the girl in front of him. She looked exactly like the girl he fell in love with at first sight and saved, and even had the same habit of playing with her hands.

12 Nagasaki Suyo joins

Putting aside the embarrassment at the intersection, Iruma Hibiki actually has a strong favorable impression of Nagasaki Suyo in front of him.

After all, before his foolish charge, he fell in love with the girl at first sight. In other words, could his charge at that time be considered a "charge for love"?

Feeling embarrassed by his own stupidity, Hibiki Iruma gave a shallow smile before turning his attention back to the negotiation at hand.

Nagasaki Suyo's movements were actually a bit restrained.

After all, she was not born to be a young lady.

The so-called natural eldest daughter is a gentle and decent woman who has lived in a wealthy family since childhood and has received elite education and good etiquette tutoring.

Until the fifth grade, Nagasaki Motoyo lived with her parents in a slightly cramped, ordinary alley in Tokyo. It was not until her parents divorced that she suddenly entered the circle of young ladies like Tsukinomori.

Of course, just two or three years wouldn't be enough for her to adapt to the etiquette of a young lady like an instinct.

It was just like a skill that she had learned halfway, and she could use it so that her classmates, who were also young ladies, would not feel disgusted.

Nagasaki Suyo is a genius, a genius who can please others.

She is very good at suppressing her emotions.

But for Iruma Hibiki at this moment, the situation was completely different, even a little torturous. After honestly telling the story of Ijichi Kouka, he fell silent.

……