After spending Saturday shopping with Kita, Aoki spent Sunday alone, busy dealing with contracts, ID verifications, and the rest of the moving-related errands.
Paying rent, deposit, security fees, and finally handing over the paperwork—it all took until midday.
With only one day of the weekend left and time running tight, Aoki called both a cleaning service and a moving company to work in parallel.
It took until around 3 PM, but everything was finally done.
Carrying in new bedding and some basic furniture, he managed to move into his new apartment just before the weekend ended.
Once he'd settled in, things suddenly felt peaceful.
At the moment, Kessoku Band didn't have any songs they needed to rehearse.
The aftermath of Fireworks had mostly blown over, with only that unreleased radio segment left.
Nothing urgent was going on at school either.
But this peace probably wouldn't last long—Aoki had already started thinking about releasing a new single, which meant more rehearsals on the horizon.
On top of that, the two original Kessoku Band songs currently in practice— If I Could Be a Constellation —were still on the schedule.
After half a day of exhausting moving, trying to think about all of that now just made his head hurt.
At the moment, Aoki had no clue which track to choose for the next release.
So, he decided to stop thinking altogether and just relax for the rest of the weekend.
He thought the rest of the afternoon—and probably until tomorrow morning would be uneventful.
But around 4 PM, just as he was organizing his bedroom, Aoki suddenly received a message on LINE.
His phone buzzed while he was straightening the bedding, so it took him about three or four minutes to finish up before grabbing it and checking the message.
It was from Yamada Ryo, coincidentally asking about his apartment search.
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[Cat-lover Ryo-san]: Hey Suki-san, about that apartment hunt you mentioned—did you end up finding a place? I think I might've found one that works for me.
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He hadn't mentioned to the others that he had already moved, so this was a perfect chance to reply.
He tapped the screen and typed out a response:
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[Ah, I don't need it anymore. Just moved in this afternoon.]
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The message was quickly marked as read. But after that, Ryo didn't reply immediately.
It wasn't until a short while later that two new messages arrived:
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[Cat-lover Ryo-san]: ?
[Cat-lover Ryo-san]: Where did you move to?
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Ryo had never actually visited his previous apartment, but she did know the address from a conversation they'd had before.
Now that he had suddenly moved, she no longer knew where he lived.
Naturally, she asked.
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[Pretty close to Kita's place. About 2000 meters to the right from her house—around the apartment complex near the Lawson convenience store.]
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Aoki didn't think too much about it. She asked, so he answered.
Shortly after sending the message, Ryo sent another follow-up:
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[Cat-lover Ryo-san]: Did you have Kita help you choose the place?
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That was a strange question, but Aoki still replied with a simple:
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[Yeah.]
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The message was marked as read, and this time, Ryo didn't respond at all.
Thinking it'd be polite to say a bit more, Aoki typed another message to follow up:
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[By the way, since I just moved, want to stop by and take a look? We could have dinner here too.]
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To be perfectly honest, he only sent that message out of courtesy.
He figured Ryo was too lazy to come out at a time like this, so it wouldn't amount to anything.
But ah, yes... Murphy's Law.
Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong.
So of course, he stared in silence as his message was marked as read… and then saw her reply:
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[Cat-lover Ryo-san]: Okay.
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"…"
He felt a twinge of regret.
And then, as if to pile it on, another message followed:
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[Cat-lover Ryo-san]: Should I invite Nijika and the others too?
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Well, she'd already accepted. No backing out now.
And honestly, a few more guests didn't make much of a difference at this point.
Glancing at the mess in his room, Aoki sighed and typed back:
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[Up to you.]
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He thought for a moment.
Now that he'd moved into a slightly bigger apartment with a kitchen and a living room, it might be a good chance to try cooking at home.
When he was alone, he never had the motivation to cook. But if guests were coming over, that somehow gave him a bit of drive.
Nothing too complicated, though. He definitely couldn't pull off anything fancy…
Aside from the trusty tomato-and-egg stir fry he knew well, the only simple, group-friendly dish that came to mind… was hotpot.
And hotpot—well, it's not exactly hard, but it's not effortless either.
He glanced at the clock on the wall.
4:15 PM. If he started prepping now, the timing would be just about right.
Another message came in from Ryo:
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[Cat Lover Roy-san]: Then I'll go grab Nijika, Bocchi, and Kita too.
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Aoki didn't respond.
He was already thinking about the ingredients.
He searched for a hotpot guide on his browser, then jotted down a list of things he needed on paper.
Soup base, assorted ingredients, a hotpot-compatible pot, and all the other little tools and utensils.
He didn't have many expenses lately and had money to spare, so spending on this didn't feel wasteful at all.
List in hand, he straightened up and headed to the nearby supermarket.
After about 30 minutes of shopping, he returned with all the ingredients and equipment, reviewed the tutorial again at home, and started prepping.
Once he felt confident nothing would go wrong, he brought out the table and set up the hotpot.
He'd chosen a special pot from a large department store—something that would be perfect for a group of five with different taste preferences.
Thoughtfully, Aoki had bought a dual-soup hotpot—something only locals would know to use.
As for the soup bases, he prepared both a mild broth and a spicy one.
Once everything was ready, he checked his phone.
Ryo had already announced the dinner plan in the Kessoku Band group chat.
If they were quick, the girls would probably be arriving soon.
Wait a sec... how many dinners had they had together this week?
While wiping down the table, Aoki suddenly wondered.
Ever since they'd wrapped up the Fireworks collaboration, Kessoku Band had been casually getting together for dinner more and more often.
At this rate… were they starting to look like the Light Music Club (K-On)?
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