The release of a new song happened to coincide with the open call for music submissions for KL Corporation's short anime project.
According to Nagano Masami, the theme of this short anime was a rare one—finding the right song to match it wasn't going to be easy.
Aoki had a few ideas forming in his mind, but nothing concrete yet.
After hanging up the call, he looked up the submission deadline online.
Early December.
Still a decent amount of time left.
Plenty of room to prepare. No need to rush just yet.
Thinking about the song naturally led him to reflect on his own keyboard and guitar skills.
Even with his mastery, any extended time away from practice would inevitably dull his technique—and it had already been nearly half a month since he last played.
After considering for a bit, he decided to head to STARRY and get in some training.
He could practice piano at his apartment, but his guitars—both of them had been left at the livehouse after their last session.
So if he wanted to practice, he'd have to take the train.
Having made up his mind, Aoki threw his coat back on and headed out after the call.
He bought a ticket, boarded the train.
While buying the ticket, three high school girls recognized him.
They begged for a photo with such puppy-dog eyes that he couldn't say no.
He almost missed the train because of it.
Once on board, he overheard people talking about Kessoku Band.
He couldn't make out every word, but he caught phrases like "new song," "Suki," and "together."
Fans, most likely.
Not wanting to get recognized again and dragged into another photo op, Aoki quickly pulled up his collar to cover half his face.
He wasn't sure how effective that was, but thankfully, by the time he reached his stop, the fans hadn't noticed him.
Still half-concealed, he got off the train.
Just as he exited the station, his phone vibrated.
A message had come in.
He pulled out his phone and saw it was a LINE message from Yamada Ryo.
He glanced up to confirm which direction he needed to go, then read the message while walking.
She had sent him a video.
The title was odd:
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[Bassist: "Something That's Mine Alone"]
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Curious, Aoki tapped on it.
The video started with a black screen, followed by the sound of music.
It wasn't a song he'd heard before, but judging from the lyrics, it was clearly a youth-romance themed piece.
When the second line of lyrics came in, the visuals began.
At the very first image, Aoki blinked in surprise.
The footage was from the time he and Ryo had done a street performance together.
The editing was surprisingly well done—well-paced, neatly cut.
Just as the lyrics synced perfectly, the scene showed Ryo grabbing his wrist and pulling him through the crowd.
Then came a sequence of clips showing Ryo glancing at him in different moments.
Next came the chorus.
Set to the audio of Ryo's words from the radio broadcast, the video played over scenes of her speaking about him.
After the chorus, the clip showed other moments of their interactions.
The whole thing was only about a minute long.
To be honest, Aoki's first thought after watching was:
'Wow, this is actually really well edited.'
His second thought was—
He let out a short sigh and exited the video.
Back in the chat with Ryo, he hesitated a moment before quickly typing:
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[What is this video??]
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Ryo had probably been waiting for his response after he read it, because her reply came almost immediately:
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[Cat Lover Ryo-san]: Haven't you seen these before, Suki-san? They're those fan-made shipping videos! There's one of you and Kita, you and Nijika, you and Bocchi...
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"…."
He stared at the screen, not sure how to respond.
Of course he knew about those videos.
He was aware of just how… odd his fans could be—always making these bizarre edits.
But this…
Ryo had seen them.
And not just seen them—she'd watched one where she was the focus, then sent it to him…
What kind of move was that?
Is that even something you just… bring up?
Taking a deep breath, eyes still on the screen, Aoki typed back:
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[Yeah, I've seen a few. But what's the deal with sending a video where you're the main character to the other lead…? Is this your way of confessing or something?]
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After a few seconds, "Cat Lover Ryo-san" replied with a sticker—one of a pale-faced geisha tilting her head with a questioning look.
Aoki kept going:
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[If this is your way of confessing, I'm not accepting it. Try a different approach and I might consider it. But that depends on how sincere it is…]
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The message showed "Read."
Ryo didn't reply immediately.
Just as he was about to put his phone away and get going again, her response popped up.
Instead of following his last line, she completely sidestepped it and dug back into the earlier topic:
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[Cat Lover Ryo-san]: So, any thoughts, Suki-san? What's it like being the lead in a video like this?
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Aoki let out a tired sigh and replied:
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[Not much, honestly. It's all just edits. Doesn't feel like I'm really the main character or anything.]
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A vague answer—half true, half deflecting.
The message showed "Read," but this time Ryo didn't respond right away.
It was a while before more messages came in.
Not just one—several in a row:
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[Cat Lover Ryo-san]: Really nothing at all?
[Cat Lover Ryo-san]: The bassist grabs your wrist and runs away, steals glances at you, even says on-air 'I'm the one who first called him Suki-san'.
[Cat Lover Ryo-san]: And don't forget all the other stuff that didn't even make the cut…
[Cat Lover Ryo-san]: Seriously nothing~?
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What's with this girl?
Aoki stared at the texts for a moment, almost able to picture her grinning mischievously as she typed them, eager to see his reaction.
He really didn't get her way of thinking.
He started typing, then paused.
Deleted it all.
Weirdo.
She was hopelessly awkward, but always tried to act like she had the upper hand—constantly provoking him.
But in reality, say two embarrassing lines and she'd clam up completely…
Of course. That only applied when they were face to face.
With text, she had no fear.
…Come to think of it, she should still be at the livehouse helping out around this time.
Aoki exhaled deeply and, after marking the messages as "read," said nothing more.
He descended the stairs and made his way to the familiar doors of STARRY.
With the thought of "if you want to know my thoughts, I'll tell you to your face," he steadied his expression.
Then—
With a calm look, Aoki Kei pushed open the door.