"A band?" Kaede asked, her face unreadable.
But Konrad felt so much judgment in her tone, he raised both hands in surrender.
"It's to get us back to Kasserlane," he tried to explain. "It sounds stupid, and—well, it wasn't my idea in the first place. But I figured, it might actually work out."
"Enlighten me," the girl said, crossing her arms.
She leaned against a desk in the next row. The school was still empty; nobody wanted to arrive early on a Monday morning, except her. They had to be there once the gates were open.
Kaede was weird like that.
And the way she stared him down, he could only mumble.
"With the acoustic, I can only recover like one mana a minute. There's only so much I can play when you insist on school—"
The girl scoffed. Or was that a laugh?
For how expressive she usually was, Kaede seemed like an enigma this morning.
"You could still recover everything in a week, so why agree to something outrageous like this in two?" she asked. "And what's the difference anyway? Is that guitar that much better?"
"It is," Konrad admitted. "But it's crazy expensive. Plus, it's not the guitar itself."
Giving her a quick rundown on all the multipliers was easy, but he felt sillier with every word.
"Playing on that—and I mean, playing good, and putting in the feelings and all—nets me like five mana a song. If I play with someone on the same wavelength, or for an audience—"
"So you're saying, you're on the same wavelength with that weirdo, and not me?!"
Oh. Hold on. Was that her problem?
She was jealous this whole time?! Well, she was a haremette after all, but—
"Wait, can you even play anything?" Konrad asked, raising an eyebrow.
Kaede shrugged, avoiding his gaze.
"Never tried. But it can't be that hard. And hey, I can sing. I work in a karaoke bar."
"As a server, not a singer," he pointed out, his world flipping on its head again. "Can't believe your issue with this was that it didn't include you."
It was impossible to suppress a smirk.
If not for the first classmates entering the room, the girl would've clawed it off his face, though.
"Of course I'm mad," she whispered, then put on the sweetest smile to greet her friends. She had a lot in school, which never ceased to amaze him. "You should've come to me first."
Yep. Jealousy. It was actually cute.
"You're the first I told," Konrad pointed out. Not that he had anyone else to talk to.
Midori-kun? He arrived much later—if he bothered showing up in the first place.
And he would have never told him about this success.
Neither the sake-debacle nor the music-to-mana conversion experiments. No matter how friendly that ancient mage kid was, he was still the Demon Lord and a future enemy.
"Yeah, but you told me only now." Kaede still fumed. "Like, two days later."
The speed at which she could switch between a sweet plastered smile and a glare was terrifying.
"We didn't meet," Konrad said with a shrug. "You never even told me where you live."
In fact, ever since she left the hospital, he had never known where Kaede was on the weekend.
Did she already get a new job? That convenience store was still more or less in ruins.
"I have a phone," she scoffed. And yeah, he forgot about that.
Most of the time, he still thought he was in Kasserlane, and only the setting changed.
It was impossible to get used to Tokyo.
But he had a way back now—or at least a plan that could have worked.
If that angry and jealous dragoness had not killed him first.
"So what was I supposed to do?" Konrad asked, crossing arms, too. "Reject her and get stuck forever? We've no idea when Lucifer's minions would show up or how strong they'll be."
"Not what I said," Kaede pouted, looking away. "But like, ask me to join your band, Baka."
His eyes twitched. This girl was something else.
"As a singer? Yuki-senpai is already—"
"Yuki this, Yuki that," she grumbled. "Didn't you say she's a bassist? But now she plays solos, sings, and she's the best in everything, duh. One word and you throw yourself at her feet."
He regretted telling her about it now.
But he couldn't turn back time, unlike—
"Ohayo," Midori-kun muttered, entering the classroom seconds before the bell rang.
So he didn't skip school today, but he sure cut it close.
He looked sleepy, with a severe case of bed hair, his uniform buttoned wrong. The rest of the class was already in place, but somehow, Konrad didn't notice their buzzing until now.
"Did you hear?" Kaede turned as he reached his desk two rows behind them.
Konrad's eyes widened. Was she about to—
"Halstadt-kun is in a rock band now," the dragoness said with all the contempt in the world.
Yeah, she definitely was.
Midori-kun stopped, looking up with eyes that could not see. He furrowed his brows.
"A what?" he asked, almost missing his chair when he sat down.
His reaction was mediocre at best—but half the class raised their heads.
The room fell silent, every eye aiming at the girl, or worse.
Straight at Konrad.
"The exchange student's a rocker?"
"Wow, a band? Kakkoi."
"Didn't know he played an instrument," they muttered behind their palms.
The gossip machine was already at full steam. He sighed.
"Why did you do that?" Konrad whispered, trying to disappear in plain sight.
Actually, he could've. He had enough mana for a simple illusion, but—
Yeah, let's not.
Kaede didn't answer. She was busy playing the offended, her nose pointing at the ceiling.
"Oh, like an orchestra?" Midori-kun asked with a huge delay, looking a little less sleepy now. In fact, his eyes went wide, straightening in his chair. "Hold on—are you a bard now?!"
Unlike the dragon's words that drew all attention, the Demon Lord's mutter got lost in the noise.
But Konrad heard it. And if he knew about bard magic—
Before he blinked, the kid was in his face, staring him down.
"So you figured it out, didn't you?" Midori whispered, freaking him out. "And you forgot to tell me. After I have shared all my research and taught you the missing runes."
"Thanks, Kaede," he gritted out, rather than answering. "What was that for?"
The girl shrugged, her face much easier to read now.
Satisfaction.
That little—
"What instrument?" Midori-kun demanded. "And what other conditions were necessary to succeed? I can play harpsichord. Would that work here? Does this world even have them?!"
"Wait, what?" Konrad asked, unable to hide his surprise. "You can actually play?"
That sure was an ancient instrument, but it did exist on Earth.
In fact, playing it was not much different from playing the piano or a modern keyboard.
Kaede's glare almost burned a hole in his forehead.
"You're shitting me, right?!" she gritted out. "You'd invite him to your band before me?!"
She wasn't subtle or quiet. The entire class noticed their little drama unfold.
But Konrad might have found his second bandmate, however unlikely it was.